


The Tesseract

by LokiBlogger



Series: Avengers; Asgard and Midgard United [1]
Category: Loki - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adult Content, Avenger Loki, Avengers - Freeform, Battle of New York (Marvel), F/M, Loki - Freeform, Loki Redemption, Loki change of heart, Loki in love, Mild Sexual Content, loki romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2018-04-10 08:48:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4385507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokiBlogger/pseuds/LokiBlogger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starts in The Avengers events timeline and follows through all movies Loki did and will appear in; Loki seeks redemption and piece of mind; what he finds may be a little more than that...<br/>******<br/>The series was now renamed into Avengers; Asgard and Midgard United and will consist of separate parts that are connected; just like the movies. The first part previously called The Avengers has a new title: The Tesseract. More parts will follow. The whole series is a one, long story... enjoy ;-)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

>   
>  I started to write this story just for myself, my own amusement, but then I decided to share it with you;  
> for better and for worse… ;-)  
> There are a few things that I want you to keep in mind before you start reading, so here we go:  
> \- As I said in the beginning, the story was meant for me only and that’s why it’s written in First Person POV. This is how I always write anyway;  
> \- The story is based on "The Avengers", "Thor: The Dark World" and Thor: Ragnarok, with brief mentions of other MCU events and in general follows all story lines that include Marvel's Loki – please note that all “plagiarisms” are fully intended; my goal was to place my character right in the middle of these specific events;  
> \- Some characters from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have also made their way into the story – they appear fairly early and I wrote these parts before Agents’ storyline has developed into what we know now, so… don’t be surprised…  
> \- This is not a typical smut story, you won't find a hard porn in here; I marked it as “mature”, because there are a few “unsafe” scenes and wording, especially towards the later parts of the story, but the whole novel was meant to show a different side of Loki and all these events. It is oriented rather towards a romance than physicality, but of course I couldn’t help myself and smuggled a few scenes that you may enjoy;  
> \- My firearms setup and Gun Kata fighting technique was inspired by the movie “Equilibrium” (2004, Ch. Bale)  
> Thanks ;-)

My name is Hayne Davenport. Special agent Hayne Davenport, to be exact. Next month it will be my fifth year with S.H.I.E.L.D., the secret, undercover agency that only recently has become known due to the disturbing incident in New Mexico about a year ago.

I was on a different assignment at that time, but I’ve heard everything about it first hand from an eyewitness. My friend, agent Phil Coulson was very specific and relayed to me all the details of what has really happened there.

What I heard from him was really disturbing. Working for S.H.I.E.L.D. all these years I have already wrapped my mind around Dr. Bruce Banner changing into a Hulk, I was friends with Tony Stark and Pepper; and I have recently met Captain Steve Rogers, but other realms?? Thor, a God of Thunder here on Earth?? That was unimaginable, yet obviously true.

Nevertheless, somehow we have always known that there has to be something else out there; after all, the mysterious Tesseract found with Captain Rogers was definitely not from this world. We had it with us, in S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, under Dr. Erik Selvig’s supervision trying to figure out how to deal safely with this otherworldly object.

“Agent Davenport?” – I heard a deep voice right next to me – “Agent Davenport, it’d be greatly appreciated if I could have your attention”.

“I’m sorry, Sir” – I replied, immediately coming back to the reality – “I’m just concerned…”

“Aren’t we all” – Director Nick Fury sighed. He was a tall, mighty African-American man with a bald head and an eye patch on his left eye that he has lost a long time ago.

We were on board of one of our combat choppers, on the way to headquarters. Less than half an hour ago Fury called me with an emergency and now, as soon as I got into the chopper he filled me in. Turns out that he received an alarming call from agent Coulson in regards to the Tesseract; something was obviously very wrong with it… Coulson didn’t disclose any details, but the sole fact that we were in the air in the middle of the night, said a lot and it wasn’t a good story…

“Sir” – I started – “I know Coulson didn’t say much but, well… Tesseract is supposed to be a doorway between dimensions or realms, right?” – Fury nodded, saying nothing – “If we didn’t do anything with it and it is still doing SOMETHING…” – I continued – “Well, doorway works both ways…”

Fury looked at me meaningfully with his one good eye.

“That’s what worries me too” – he said.

“We are about to land, Sir” – pilot informed us and I immediately felt the chopper declining rapidly.

_Here we go_ , I thought with a grin.

I got off the bench and quickly examined my gear: when on duty I was always wearing my reinforced black combat suit that saved my life way more than once, fingerless gloves and heavy looking, but incredibly lightweight army combat boots with a few very useful surprises hidden within, including ferromagnetic core which when activated, allowed me to cling to any metal surfaces. Handguns release control gear, with two Aurelius guns snapped in served as my main firepower and all that was hidden under a jacket that only looked like a regular leather piece of clothing – in fact, it was very effective bullet proof shield; it also was carrying surprisingly big stock of ammo that could be replenished to my handguns in seconds during combat, using the same gun release gear that allowed me to draw the weapon directly into my hands out of my sleeves just by using a certain arm muscle tension. I quickly brushed away my long brown hair and reached for the last item that I was especially proud of – it looked like an innocent 12 inches long simple, straight handle, but due to a remarkable engineering work, a touch of a hidden switch allowed it to expand to full length, deadly samurai-like sword. I snapped it onto my belt in a safe mode.

In a meantime, the chopper has descended all the way down and now has touched the landing platform. Without waiting for the rotor to stop, we got out in a hurry.

“Martinez, whole squad to the main hall, code red. Now!” – I yelled to my headset microphone.

“Yes Ma’am!” – Martinez replied immediately.

I knew that my small, 5 man squad will be there in minutes.

Where we have just landed there was only a plain field with a few hills and small woodland nearby; the only man-made objects around where the landing platform and a modest little booth. I remembered my own puzzlement when they brought me here for the first time.

Right next to the booth, in the dark I saw a familiar silhouette. Phil Coulson was waiting for us outside the base; his eagerness wasn’t foretelling anything good.

“Director, agent Davenport” – he greeted us in a hurry – “Thank God you got here so quickly”

“What’s the situation?” – Asked Fury as we went inside the booth, which in fact was an elevator to the underground base. Coulson hit the button and we were on our way down.

“We’re not sure” – he looked puzzled, worried and a little scared. Phil might have not looked like a regular hero, but it was extremely difficult to scare him; that’s why he was the best ever chief of security, trusted and always under control. Now he was visibly troubled and that’s what really disturbed me.

“Dr. Selvig was working with Tesseract as usual and it has just activated itself” – he continued – “Eric swears that he didn’t do anything. The cube just went off by itself…”

Fury looked at me meaningfully; we both remembered our conversation on the chopper.

The elevator has finally reached its destination, door opened and we went into the main hangar. As we did, I immediately noticed an unusual excitement among the people gathered over there. Dr. Selvig was frantically trying to do something on his extremely complicated machinery that was supposed to control Tesseract placed inside it; it didn’t look like he’s succeeding. Supporting personnel was trying to help, but clearly they also had no idea what to do. Director Fury stood in the middle of all that looking way more pissed than usual.

“Dr. Selvig?” – he turned to the scientist – “What is going on here?”

Selvig looked like a little pile of misfortune; exhausted, disoriented and frightened.

“I honestly don’t know, Sir” – he replied - “Tesseract has become active and we are NOT doing this”.

The machine holding Tesseract started to shiver more and more with each passing moment; deeply disturbing, otherworldly high pitched tone was rising louder and louder.

“Where is Hawk?” – I asked almost yelling

“I don’t know, Coulson where the hell is Barton??” – Fury’s voice was well heard over the rising Tesseract noise.

“Hawk, get over here, damn it!” – Phil yelled into his mike, looking towards the ceiling – “He’s up there as usual” – he turned to the Director – “Says he can see better from the distance…”

The noise was almost unbearable now; we had to take a few steps back from the machine. Hawkeye appeared as if from nowhere, as he usually did; the expression on his face concerned and confused.

“I can’t see anything Sir” – he said – “Whatever it is, it’s not an attack from the outside…”

I turned back to the Tesseract machine as if drawn to it; Tesseract itself has now changed the color from blue to reddish, the noise has reached so high pitch that now it has become almost inaudible.

“Dr. Selvig, I’d suggest you step back. NOW” – I said and pulled Selvig’s sleeve to drag him out of there – “I think it’s too late to stop whatever is happening” – I added when I got him back in the safe distance from the machine. Or whatever I thought would be a safe distance.

“Agent Davenport, Srgt. Martinez reports the squad” – I heard behind me and lifted my hand ordering him to stand by. In a meantime, hell was rising around us. Tesseract started to emit a stream of energy, weak at first, then growing stronger by the second, pointing all the way across the hangar where it appeared to form a kind of a vortex or portal… The noise became overwhelming again, so instead of trying to yell my orders, I simply patted Martinez on the shoulder and showed him to send the troops to both sides of the forming vortex. He understood me immediately and got his people going. I threw my arms forward and a flawless mechanism placed guns into my hands; armed, I started toward the vortex that was almost completely formed now. I’ve never seen one before, but that’s how it looked like now; huge, spinning fast with humming and electric static noise. Steel walls of our hangar started to shiver, the lights were blinking and buzzing; the sound of tortured metal added to the ominous tone of a vortex. I kept moving forward, Hawkeye by my side with his deadly bow ready. Time seemed to stop; spinning vortex was all we could see and think of, almost hypnotizing; pieces of scrap metal falling down from the ceiling didn’t even catch my attention; all I was able to concentrate on was the spinning void. And then, without a warning, it happened.

Inside the spinning mass of light and electricity, weird, shadowy, dark silhouettes started to form. As they started to go out, they were slowly losing their initial blurriness and then, finally, we could see who or rather what has come from beyond. In only a few seconds I noticed black capes, dark, stone-like faces and red eyes. They were humanoid, way over two feet taller than humans; their skin was dark blue and looked almost like lizard’s shuck. There were eight of these creatures coming out of the vortex; two out of these eight seemed to be even bigger and darker than the others. As the last one was out, I’ve noticed that it’s not all. At the very end, there came out not a hideous creature, but a man. At least he appeared to be one. Tall, strangely handsome, slim yet athletic, with long black hair affixed to the back over his temple, ice-blue eyes and sharp features; he has captured my attention way more than otherworldly creatures. His posture, black with golden-green accents leather suit and long coat and a golden spear bearing an ice-blue crystal in its head, as his only weapon, gave him this unique, overwhelming charisma that only royalties have. Or Gods.

My troops and Phil’s security opened fire, but no bullet seemed to have any effect on the invaders. I caught Hawk’s gaze and nodded. We have always understood each other without words. He started along the wall towards the Tesseract machine where Fury and Dr. Selvig still stood; hiding low, almost invisible. I moved a little closer to the invaders still marching towards the machine. I slowly lifted my arms with an Aurelius in each hand and took an aim. On the closest creature, not the man. A split of a second before I pulled the triggers, the black haired stranger turned around and in spite of a distance between us and what I thought was a pretty good hideout, he looked directly at me; I could feel his fierce gaze fixed on me and almost piercing through me. He looked like a raptor observing his prey. I hesitated. The stranger instead of killing me on the spot as I suspected he would do, had lifted his spear and with unexpected grace and almost like in a slow motion drew a full circle with it around himself and his companions. As he did this, I immediately felt like I got stacked in a jelly of sorts; an invisible force field caught all of us and held tight, forbidding any movement. Me and all other soldiers could only watch helplessly as invaders have finally reached the Tesseract machine and Selvig with Fury, who haven’t been affected by the force field. Desperately trying to free myself from the invisible restraints I saw one of the creatures approaching Hawk, who was hidden in the shadow and touching his chest with the same kind of spear the black haired stranger had. Right after that he did the same to Dr. Selvig. In a matter of seconds I watched in astonishment that both of them suddenly stopped struggling, and looked at the black haired man as if awaiting orders. Hawkeye folded his bow and put it into his backpack. I couldn’t believe my eyes; apparently Fury had the same problem, cause I saw him yelling something and trying to reach for his gun. He was successfully stopped by a hit of a spear over the head. Black haired stranger said something to Hawk; he nodded and started towards the exit. A few words to Dr. Selvig and he also obeyed.

What the hell, I thought frantically. Apparently invaders have taken control over Hawk and Selvig and that was really bad… Still unable to move I saw Dr. Selvig reaching out to the Tesseract, taking it out of the machine and putting it into a steal reinforced suitcase. He closed it, double checked it and nodded, waiting for further commands. A black haired man gestured towards the exit and the whole group including Dr. Selvig started to leave except one of the creatures who turned towards barely conscious Nick Fury and took an aim on him with his spear, but he didn’t get to finish the job. Black haired man with a speed of a snake threw the weapon out of the creature’s hands; monster roared at him furiously, but capitulated right away, immediately intimidated by the man’s cold and piercing gaze. The whole group was almost out of the hangar, when I realized something that made my hair stand up: taking the Tesseract out of the machine, will or did already interrupt the vortex which will – as far as I understood quantum physics – start to collapse, most likely taking with it whatever it can grab, us included… Force field was still holding tight; I watched huge, dark figures disappearing from my sight one by one; the last one in the line was again a black haired stranger. At the last moment before he disappeared too, he stopped, looked around and finally fixed his eyes on me again. I felt like a sitting duck, unable to move, to speak, to react at all; it was the longest 5 seconds of my life. Yet again, nor I or anyone else was harmed; the stranger waved his spear again and suddenly we all regained the ability to move, the force field was down. He left hangar seconds later.

“Martinez!” – I yelled into my communicator – “After them!”

“Phil!” – I switched frequency – “Get Fury and your guys and get the hell out of here, this whole thing is collapsing!”

And so it was. Destabilized vortex was flickering rapidly, already swallowing smaller, loose objects. There was literally not even a second to lose. I threw myself in a pursuit after invaders and my squad, but as soon as I left the hangar I realized that this time I simply have to quit the chase and concentrate on saving my skin; our underground headquarters was literally falling apart, ceiling support was seriously failing, letting pieces of a construction and dirt fall down uncontrollably; hangar behind me has already collapsed and imploded into a nothingness, leaving just a huge void in the ground. I sure hoped everybody managed to get out it time… I turned rapidly and started to run towards garages, in a matter of minutes I got there and to my outmost relieve I saw two combat off-roaders still left there. I jumped into one of them and started the engine. It fired up immediately, thank god. I stepped on the gas and the car jumped ahead like a frightened stallion. Thank god for these insanely powerful engines that Fury had forced the Committee to buy and install in our vehicles. I turned left and drove towards the exit as fast as I could through narrow corridors; falling apart walls and pieces of everything whisking around, weren’t helping. Although focused on the driving, I couldn’t help but noticing bodies scattered around in ridiculous poses; poses that only dead bodies can attain. I suddenly felt physical pain in my throat when I realized that these bodies are dressed in combat suits, much like mine… It was my squad… I swallowed a lonely tear and tightened the grip on a steering wheel. Who the hell were these creatures, what did they want with the Tesseract? These guys definitely had an agenda, especially that eerie stranger, who even though kept himself on the side, was probably the leader of the group…

“Shit!!” – I yelled out loud when an especially large piece of debris missed me by a few inches. I definitely have to get out of here immediately… Well, easier said than done. The raging pandemonium was slowly but surely catching up with me; dust and small debris floating around reduced the visibility to almost minimum, yet I was sure I just saw something before me. It was a long straight corridor without any turns and now I was sure I could see one of our off-roaders in front of me, far but recognizable. I stepped on the gas as soon as I realized that in the back of the car in front of me I can recognize alien creatures, Dr. Selvig and a black haired stranger. He was sitting by the very end of the car’s crate therefore was visible the most. Well - I thought to myself - with a little luck, I may after all accomplish today a little more than just saving my ass. I knew that shooting the tires wouldn’t make any difference - our combat vehicles were tough bastards – the only chance to stop them was to actually eliminate the driver, but that solution presented itself with two major problems: firstly, I’d have to get much closer without being shot. Secondly, the driver I’d have to eliminate was almost certainly Hawkeye… Focused on driving and figuring out the plan, I noticed the corridor collapsing at my right side a second or two too late. Instinctively rather than consciously, I stepped on the break with all the strength I had; off-roader lost the grip for a second, danced around its own axis and stopped rapidly hitting hard on a large piece of steel construction laying on the ground. A second later, just when I thought that I got out easy of this one, the ceiling with all the dirt, construction pieces and god knows what else, collapsed right in front of me with deafening thump, successfully cutting me off from the exit. It was a miracle that I didn’t get buried right under the pile of debris, but it didn’t mean that I was ok; unable to get out, I could only wait for the voracious, expanding vortex to finally find its way here, swallow me and send into the oblivion…

“Shit, shit, shit” – I said out loud – “Think God damn it!” I got out of the car, looked around, picked up a large enough piece of steel scaffolding and attacked with it the barricade before me. I hit it hard a few times, but all I managed to accomplish was covering myself with a thick layer of dust, the barricade stood intact. It definitely didn’t look good. I heard the ominous sound of buzzing vortex accompanied by excruciating rumble of torn metal – getting closer and closer. At this point I finally allowed myself to start panicking a little; there wasn’t much more I could do… Except fighting till the end maybe… I picked up the steel log and started to hit the pile of dirt again and again, mainly to let the anger out, cause I knew it was way not enough to get me out of this trap… What a stupid way to die..! I took another swing to hit the wall with everything I had, when I suddenly noticed that the dirt started to move and spill a little. I stopped halfway and watched it moving more and more; at some point a faint glow started to be visible though the dirt wall, then became stronger and stronger… Not even sure what the hell was happening, I instinctively moved aside; just in time to get out of a way of a pretty strong blast that threw the soil and debris inside my trap and revealed an open passage outside.

“What the…” – I didn’t even get to finish, when I saw someone on the other side of the barricade. I took a closer look; it was none else than a dark haired stranger; he was moving away his spear which he obviously used to free me from the trap…. Again, instinctively and without even thinking I activated one of my handguns and aimed at him. He lifted his eyebrows and looked at me, stunned. Now, when I could look at him up close, I saw dark circles under his eyes and a great deal of pain and exhaustion on his handsome face. I briefly wondered what must have happened to him that left such a demise mark… I dropped the thought quickly.

“Really?” – he said with a mixture of impatience and amusement.

Yeah, under the circumstances, maybe I overreacted… I deactivated my weapon and he gestured at me impatiently.

“Come on already!” – he raised his voice to be heard over the loudening noise.

At this point I didn’t waste any time; fastest I could I climbed the small bump and got out through the hole. Behind me the ground was already shaking. The stranger grabbed me hurriedly by the sleeve. “This way” – he pointed towards the wider corridor and started to run. It might have not been the best time for that, but I furiously tore my sleeve out of his grip and stepped back.

“Leave me alone” – I said – “I mean it”.

He stopped and turned back to me.

“Look behind you” – he gestured towards the collapsing hell and spread his arms helplessly – “Will you just finally come?”

I didn’t look behind me, but I looked at him. In these few seconds I made up my mind; he looked genuinely concerned, impatient and a little pissed. He had no intention to harm me, at least not at this moment. I sighed.

“Let’s go” – I said and started in the direction he was pulling me to. He shook his head.

“Thank you!” – that was hundred percent sarcastic, but I didn’t pay attention. The ground behind us was collapsing and sliding into the depth; S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was already gone, now vortex was greedily grabbing anything that it could find on its way, therefore I run like never before in my life. My companion was right beside me, running in silence, focused and sleek like a wolf. He gazed at me quickly from time to time to make sure I keep the pace; I was with no problems. After another few minutes it seemed to me that the vortex has finally started slowing down; as we have almost reached the exit and a dark night sky was clearly visible outside the corridor, the terrible noise wasn’t that loud anymore and the ground stopped shaking. I dared to slow down and look behind me. I was right.

“Hey!” – I had no idea how to address my companion – “Stop, I think it’s slowing down!”

The stranger turned back and stopped for a moment.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to stop just yet” – he said – It’s still not sta…”

He didn’t finish because right in this moment ground has suddenly disappeared from under my feet and I simply fell down there without any control; I gasped in panic, managed to grab a hold of a piece of rock and stopped the fall for now; it wasn’t for long though, I could feel how weak the rock I was holding on to was, but in a matter of a second or two my companion threw himself on the ground and leaned over the rim, reaching out to me.

“I told you not to stop” – he said with a trace of reprimand – “Grab my arm and hold on!”

Without hesitation, I reached out as far as I could and he grabbed my arm immediately; it was a strong, solid grip, I was sure he won’t let go. He lifted me up as if I weighed nothing and pulled me out of the void in seconds; I was back on my feet before I noticed what has happened.

“It’s not over, it’s gonna explode! Go!” – he yelled and started towards the nearby woodland, pushing me in front of with him.

He was right again, as soon as we reached the first trees, I heard a mighty rumble coming from inside the void; the gigantic mass of fire was getting ready to be unleashed in the last violent act of destruction.

“Get down!” – he threw me on the ground among young, weak bushes, got down too, and shielded me from the incoming blast with his own body; I was very aware of his strong grip as he held me and pressed firmly against his chest. A second later, an enormous explosion tore the night; I impulsively held onto him tighter and buried my face in his chest; metal and leather armor felt cold on my cheek. It took several seconds until the blazing inferno behind us calmed down a little; after a few seconds more I dared to lift up my head and look around. A huge hole in the ground behind us was blazing with flames, but the danger was finally over. I looked up and met my companion’s eyes affixed at me; he looked at me very attentively, with obvious curiosity and interest. Being that close to him actually felt good, I realized to my surprise; he didn’t seem that eerie and intimidating as when I saw him for the first time. There was actually something appealing and strangely attractive about him… I shook my head.

“Thank you” – I said softly at first, but then instantly regained control over my voice – “What is going on and who the hell are you?”- I asked furiously.

“I am Loki, of Asgard” – he replied with a trace of royal pride in his voice, still looking at me with a friendly expression.

“Loki…” – I immediately knew where I’ve heard this name – “Brother of Thor…” – tone of my voice must have not been very flattering.

“So, you’ve heard about me” – he said with a grin.

“Damn right I’ve heard about you. I should be taking you in right now…” - I was genuinely angry; at him and at myself, cause for some weird reason I just started to like this guy. _Loki_ , I thought to myself, _Jesus_ …

“You probably should” – he admitted – “Yet you are still holding on to me instead…” – he added with the most beautiful smile I have ever seen.

I realized he’s right; we were still holding each other even though the blast was over; I immediately backed out. Again, that smile that made his intense blue eyes sparkle with intelligence, a trace of mischief and something else that I really couldn’t put my finger on just yet. And definitely made him look way more attractive than I was willing to admit…

“You will be safe now” – he said, standing up – “I have to go now, but we will definitely meet again in a… well, more comfortable circumstances; we need to talk…” – he backed out quickly before I managed to stand up too – What’s your name, my dear?”

“I’m special agent Hayne Davenport and I’m not _your dear_!” - I frowned at him, standing up too.                              

“Well, I’ll see you soon, special agent Hayne Davenport” – he winked at me and disappeared between the bushes.

I stood there for a while, alone, almost unsure if all that has actually really happened. _We need to talk?_ _What was that about? What was ALL that about? Tesseract, sure, but Loki’s agenda wasn’t clear at all; he obviously was a part of the invasion troops and then all of the sudden he risks his own life to save me? And talk about what? And why the hell can’t I get his image out of my head?_ I sighed and turned my communicator on. First thing’s first.

“Phil” – I said into the microphone – “Please tell me you are all ok”

I listened to the static for a few seconds.

“Phil”? – I repeated with a very unpleasant pressure in my chest. This silence takes too long…

“Hayne!” – I finally heard Phil’s voice in my earpiece and sighed with relief – “Thank God you are ok!”

_Exactly,_ I thought, _Thank GOD…_

“I’m fine Phil, where are you, is everybody else ok?

“Yes, for the most part. I’m in a chopper with Director Fury. Wait… ok, I can see you now. We’re touching down”.

The chopper was running in a silent mode, therefore I saw it first slowly appearing out of the darkness and only then I heard a very faint sound of the rotor. Sleek, black machine sat down near me; in a few seconds I was aboard and we were back in the air.

“Good to see you agent Davenport” – that was an exceptionally warm welcome, taking under consideration that it came from Fury. I smiled.

“Good to see you too, Sir” – I said and accepted a pat on the back from Phil. I returned the gesture, happy to see him too; he was my best friend for like forever, I couldn’t even imagine losing him. I didn’t want to.

The chopper was cutting silently through the night, heading to a new destination; I looked down at the enormous hole in the ground – that was all that’s been left from our headquarters. So many died in there… Martinez and my squad… others…. I forced myself to not to think about it; we had more urgent problems now.

“Sir” – I sat down on the bench opposite Fury – “I think I at least partially know what’s going on here.”

The director looked at me without a word, waiting. I sighed.

“You’re not gonna like it”- I said – “I don’t know what these creatures are, but this guy is Loki…”

Phil’s eyes suddenly got twice as big as he looked at me in disbelief.

“Loki…” – he said with an aversion – “How do you know?”

“Well…” – I hesitated – “He told me.”

“He did what?” – Fury has finally spoken.

“I talked to him” – I admitted – “Actually, he saved my life. Twice.”

Nobody said anything; silence on board has become a little too heavy for my taste. I decided to go on, before someone accuses me of treason or something.

“There’s more, Sir” – I said. Phil started to leave to the cockpit, assuming that there’s a confidential part coming, but Fury has stopped him with a gesture. Phil sat back down and I was glad that he stayed. His presence somehow reassured me.

“It all happened very quickly” – I continued – “ And I was busy staying alive for the most part of it, but later, when the danger was over and just before he left, Loki told me that we need to talk. I don’t know about what, I have no idea what all that means, Sir” – I reassured quickly.

Directory Fury looked at me with his only eye; it was a long and not very comfortable glance.

“Well…” – he finally said – “I guess we will find out soon”. After a long while he at last looked away.

“To all units” – he said to his communicator” – “Repeat, to all units. Everybody is to proceed to site _beta;_ repeat, site _beta_ is our new and current base.” – he paused for a second, sighed and continued in a very serious voice – “As of now, we are at war. Over and out.” - he terminated the transmission and looked at us. His last statement hanged heavily in the air; he had just said what we have all been thinking, but a sole confirmation of this fact somehow made it more real…

Fury turned over to us, straightened his back and positioned his palms on his knees.

“Here is the situation” – he began – “There was an idea.. Stark and you agent Davenport know about this; called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Agent Davenport, you were actually officially asked to join the assembly. What you are not aware of, is that we have actually pre-assembled and spoken to the other prospects that we are interested in. You know all of them, or at least _about them_. Captain Steve Rogers is on his way to our base now. Hawkeye is unfortunately not available at the moment, just as Thor. That leaves us with notifying two last Avengers Team members.” – he turned to Phil – “Agent Coulson, you know where to find Tony Stark. Agent Davenport…” – he paused for a moment and looked at me – “You need to get the Big Guy.”

“Dr. Banner… Hulk?” – I made sure quite unnecessarily; there was only one Big Guy around…

“Yes” – Fury confirmed nevertheless – “He is currently not in States, hiding and trying to keep low key. It won’t be easy to drag him out I can tell you that; therefore I need specifically you to do the job. You, with your negotiating skills. Besides, you have always wanted to meet him, correct?"

I nodded.

“Yes Sir” – I said – “Where do I go?”

“Bamra, India” – he said, pulling a small flash drive out of his pocket – “This is his current address and coordinates. You need to leave tonight.”

“Yes Sir” – I repeated.

_India… Jeez…_

 


	2. Chapter 2

To my surprise, Bamra was a pretty nice middle-sized town, but I didn’t get to see much of it. Coordinates from Fury’s flash drive led me to the suburbs, which looked more like the common depiction of India that everybody imagines. It was poor, overcrowded and didn’t smell good. Well, I wasn’t here for sightseeing anyway.

I managed to get here the very next morning after the destruction of our base; S.H.I.E.L.D. agents didn’t have to concern about regular public communication means, nor custom clearance or anything like that. I used our own transport, QuinJet Mark-2 which was a smaller version of the standard issue QuinJet Mark-1 combat and assault plane; except size difference, Mark-2 was equipped with fewer weapons and was used rather for a quick transportation than real action.

I landed outside Bamra, at a reasonable distance to avoid drawing unnecessary attention and I changed seats to my bike to get to the town. Like most of the equipment we had at our disposal, this bike was much more than it appeared. It was a metallic black, wide and a heavy cruiser bike with enormously broad and massive wheels to ensure maximum maneuverability; it was packed with really cool gadgets like remote operating systems, stealth mode, all kinds of communication systems and few different kinds of weapons including mini rocket launcher. It had a sleek, aerodynamic shape and basically was a beast of a bike. But best of all, it could fly. Literally. When needed, this vehicle could quickly transform into small, one to two passenger aircraft, making it a top one on my list of favorite high tech gadgets at my disposal. It was manufactured by Stark Industries and Tony used his innovative technology to make it transformable; much like the one he put into his own Iron Man suit. It was a gift from him for my 4th anniversary in S.H.I.E.L.D.

Now, I was riding it through Bamra suburban streets, trying to blend in as much as I could. I replaced my combat suit with regular clothes and wasn’t wearing the helmet; just as everybody else here. Finding the address around here was a real challenge; I basically had to go almost exclusively by the coordinates, things like street names or building numbers, simply didn’t exist here. Finally, I seemed to find a right place, at least according to the GPS. I parked my bike outside small, dirty house, identical to hundreds of others around and knocked at the door. There was a complete silence at first, but then I heard a very faint noise coming from the inside. Someone was definitely inside, hiding and wishing I would go away. Not a chance.

I knocked again.

“Dr. Banner” – I said loudly – “I’m not going to leave, so you can just as well let me in. I need to talk to you; it’s a national security matter.”

Again, silence was the only answer and I really had no time for games. I fished out from the pocket a portable set of tools, opened it and chose one. It was a density scanner which helped me to locate a weakest point in the door around the lock. Once I found it, another tool helped me to apply a correct pressure and a minute later, the door opened for me. I got in.

“Dr. Banner” – I said calmly – “I’m special agent Davenport, with S.H.I.E.L.D. I know you don’t want to be bothered, but I need to talk to you.”

I looked around the small place; it was dark and had only a few most necessary and basic pieces of furniture. Dr. Banner lived in truly Spartan surroundings.

“Dr. Banner” – I repeated – “It’s really important…”

“Fine” – I finally heard from the shadowy corner; Dr. Banner came out to the light and I could finally meet the infamous Hulk, or rather its alter-ego. Banner was a mid-aged and medium built man with a tired face and wrinkled clothing; it was obvious that his voluntary exile didn’t serve him well. He looked at me with worn-out gaze; I could only imagine how hard it was for him to live with his, well… condition.

“Dr. Banner…” – I started, but he didn’t let me finish.

“So Fury needs me to smash something, huh?” – he said ironically.

“No, it’s not about that” – I made my voice sound as calm and soothing as possible – “I know that you have been over a year without an, hm… incident, and we don’t want to change that. We need your other skills Dr. Banner; you are the best gamma ray specialist there is. If there was someone else, that’s where I’d be. We need your help.”

That has finally gotten his attention. For the first time since I got here, he stared at me without this ironical façade and I counted it as a first small victory. You see, I had that gift; I could win almost every negotiation and I was really good at interrogations. I had a kind of a sixth sense that allowed me to actually feel if I’m being told the truth or not; I had a capability to lead the conversation or interrogation in such a way that allowed me to get exactly what I wanted from my opponents; and to make them show their true selves. That was one of the reasons why I was so valuable for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Now I looked at Dr. Banner with genuine sympathy. I already knew that I’m going to like this guy; he seemed depressed, alone and burdened with his curse. He definitely could use a company and working with our team was just what he needed. He just hasn’t fully realized it yet and it was my job to help him cross that line.

“Excuse my manners” – he said in a meantime – “I lived alone a long time. Please sit down agent…?”

“Davenport. Hayne Davenport” – I took a seat and continued – “Dr. Banner, I came here alone and I don’t intend to use any form of pressure except arguments. If you refuse to go with me, I will understand, although it will make our mission very difficult to accomplish, if not next to impossible.”

“What is this about?” – Banner sat down too; still uneasy, but at least engaged.

I sighed with relief and told him everything that happened last night; all facts and implications. I described Tesseract itself as best as I could, repeating what I memorized from Dr. Selvig’s reports that were made available to me before I departed for India.

“The most important is, that we still can track it, but since it emits only a very faint gamma ray signature, it takes a top notch specialist to find it. That means you.” – I concluded.

Dr. Banner nodded with a sad expression on his face.

“And if I don’t go, there’s a squad waiting outside with tranquilizers, right?” – he smiled without joy.

“No” – I replied honestly – “I told you I’m alone and this is a truth. We really need you Dr. Banner, but not like this. We won’t do anything against your will. So, what would it be?”

Dr. Banner closed his eyes for a moment and sighed heavily.

“I assume that you already have an extra plane ticket?” – he said finally. I smiled at him; I was glad I accomplished what I came for but also happy that I was being able to get him out of this hole.

“No need for that, doctor”- I replied – “I have something way better, you gonna love it.”

 

**

 

Our QuinJet Mark-2 was approaching the S.H.I.E.L.D. new base; it looked like a huge aircraft carrier and it was anchored in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific Ocean. I was maneuvering the plane gently to get it straight to the landing platform.

Dr. Banner wasn’t enthusiastic about all that.

“A boat…” – he said doubtfully – “Really?”

“Well, it’s a little more than just a boat, doctor” – I replied, pushing a steering gear forward and making the plane descent. A few minutes later, Mark-2 has gently touched down and stopped exactly where I wanted it to.

We got out in a hurry; as soon as we did, the technicians came running to secure the plane and move my bike out. It was a sunny day with a gentle breeze that was now playing with my hair as we walked through the landing platform. Dr. Banner seemed to enjoy it a lot; well, I wasn’t surprised - that must have been a big difference after muggy Bamra suburbs. I noticed familiar silhouettes right next to the sizable quarter-deck which served as an entrance inside the ship and I raised my hand in a greeting gesture.

“Hayne, that was fast!” – said Phil when we got closer.

“Well, we don’t have much time, do we?” – I replied – “Phil, Captain Rogers, this is Dr. Bruce Banner. Dr. Banner, meet agent Coulson and Captain Steve Rogers” – I introduced them. They exchanged handshakes.

“Word out there says that you are the best gamma rays hunter” – said the Captain.

“Well, is that the only word about me out there?” – Banner asked with an involuntary grimace.

“The only one I care about” – Captain Rogers answered immediately with honesty and a friendly expression; one could tell that he really meant it. Banner nodded, grateful for Captain's reaction.

“I got to go; I’ll see you inside” – said Coulson in a meantime, walking towards the quarter-deck. I nodded and turned to Steve Rogers.

“So, did he already ask you to sign his Captain America trade cards?” – I asked, laughing quietly. Everybody knew that Captain America was Coulson’s greatest childhood hero.

“Trade cards?” – Rogers looked surprised – “Really?”

“Yeah. They’re vintage, he’s very proud of them.”

Captain just shook his head.

“I don’t really understand it” – he said – “But I’m flattered. I guess…”

I laughed with sympathy; it was amusing to see this huge guy confused like a teenager. He had this old fashion quality to him; real, genuine old fashion, that he brought straight from the 1940’s, when everything was simpler, clearer and I guess easier.

“Ok, guys” – I said – “It’s time to go in, soon there will be a little hard to breathe out here.”

“Is this a submarine?” – Captain raised his eyebrow.

“Really?” – Dr. Banner laughed nervously – “Do they really want _me_ in submerged pressurized metal container?”

Water around the ship started to gurgle intensively, monstrous engines roared, setting in motion gigantic propellers positioned on ship’s both sides and in parallel to the water surface. They were a reason why we called our vessel “Helicarrier”; they now started to appear from under the water as the ship was slowly but inevitably rising from the ocean and getting ready to launch.

“Oh, this is even worse than I thought…” – Banner wasn’t happy at all.

“Come on, let’s go inside” – I pushed them both towards the quarter-deck – “Everything will be just fine” – I said to Dr. Banner, raising my voice to be heard over a deafening roar of the rotors and water.

We managed to get inside the ship just in time, before furious gusts of air blown out by propellers got strong enough to sweep us off the deck. Few steps on a metal staircase and we were right on the operation deck. Officers and agents were at their workstations, each one of them busy, fulfilling a specific task. Everything looked like a clockwork, nobody stood out, orders, commands and reports were heard all over; everyone was working together like a perfectly tuned machine.

“Wow…” – I heard Banner behind me.

“Yeah, wow…” – Captain Rogers agreed.

Well, yes, that was impressive. Helicarrier had now completely risen above the surface of the ocean and was rapidly gaining altitude and velocity.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. emergency protocol XRT-3 in effect. We’re at level, Sir” –first officer Maria Hill reported to the bridge, where, surrounded by all different kinds of monitors and other apparatus, stood Director Nick Fury; his long black leather coat and eye patch made him look like a total bad-ass. And he was. He nodded.

“All right” – he said – “All systems optimal, we’re officially on the way. Now, let’s vanish.”

He entered a complicated code on his command panel. Nothing visible actually happened, but I knew that Helicarrier has just disappeared from the sky, as stealth mode was activated.

Fury left his spot now and walked towards us.

“Dr. Banner” – he said, extending his arm to greet him – “Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you for asking nicely” – Banner accepted his handshake – “So, how long am I staying?”

“Until we find the cube” – said Fury

“And, where are you with it?” – Banner took off his jacket and rolled up shirt sleeves. I haven’t noticed when Coulson joined us, but it was he who answered this question.

“We are sweeping the planet with whatever we can use; we tapped into each wireless camera, cell phone, and laptop; as long as it’s connected to the satellite, it’s eyes and ears for us.” – he said – “I know it isn’t much…”

“We still won’t be able to find it in time” – I said.

“Well, turns out you really need me…” - concluded Banner – “Ok, I need a remote access to each spectrometer you can get your hands on. Then I need them to be calibrated to read the gamma ray signature, I will do all other modifications and recalibrate them myself. Is there any place where I can work?”

“Yes” – Fury nodded at first officer Hill – “Officer, please show doctor to his lab.”

“Yes, Sir” – Maria Hill left her station and asked Banner with a gesture to follow her.

“They gathered for you all kinds of cool stuff in there, you gonna love it” – I said quickly to Banner before they left. He replied with uneasy smile and followed the officer.

“Now” – said Fury – “What is our surveillance showing?”

We walked towards the monitoring station manned by two technicians.

“Sir” – said one of them immediately as we reached them – “We just got something, a possible match but it’s only 76% probability...”

“Show me what you have” – I said.

“Roger” – he clicked a few keys on his panel and brought up on screen a few pictures of a long black haired man in an elegant, dressy black suit. He was somewhere on the street, looking around with genuine interest; like a regular sightseeing tourist. I recognized him right away; his image has haunted me since we first met...

“That’s him” – I said with certainty – “That’s Loki. Where is he?”

“In Stuttgart, Germany” – technician replied.

“And he’s not exactly hiding…” – said Fury thoughtfully – “Ok, that’s it. Captain, agent Davenport, you’re on”.

“Yes, Sir” – we said simultaneously and both hurried aboard QuinJet.

This time it was Mark-1, a combat version.

No more jokes.


	3. Chapter 3

Stuttgart at night was beautiful. We were flying pretty low; with stealth mode activated, we didn’t have to worry about being seen before we actually wanted to be seen. I was sitting in the co - pilot’s seat, but wasn’t involved in flying the machine. QuinJet Mark-1 was designed to be handled by one pilot and required an assistance of two people behind the steers only in really extreme situations, plus there was no better pilot in our team than officer agent Melinda May, so I absolutely had nothing to worry. She was always focused and always serious; nobody saw her smiling yet; my guess was she saw too much in her life already…

Steve Rogers leaned over my seat from behind.

“It shouldn’t be far from here” – he said checking the coordinates.

“No” – I said – “Schlossplatz Theater is right ahead. We should get ready, Cap.”

“Well, I’m as ready as I can be” – he put on a helmet and grabbed his shield. In this full white, red and blue gear, he looked like the walking image of an American Hero from a comic book, but there was nothing cheesy or inappropriate about him. On the contrary, he was a dedicated soldier, a patriot and didn’t consider himself as a hero at all. “ _I’m glad I took part in that experiment”_ – he told me some time ago – “ _Thanks to this I can serve America even better”_.

Well, that was who he was; and the reason they called him Captain America.

In a meantime Mark-1 has almost reached Schlossplatz Theater. Even from the distance I could see that something very wrong was going on over there. It looked like there was a hell rising in the beautiful scenery of Schlossplatz; police cars laid down scattered and turned upside down, men in tuxes and women in evening gowns were running out of the theater building, screaming in panic. Moments later I saw three dark creatures walking out towards the crowd, wielding their spears that squirted with energy beams.

“Let’s go!” – Captain yelled from the back of the plane.

“I’m right behind you” – I answered and run towards the lifting platform where he was already waiting for me. As soon as I stepped on it, the platform began to descend. Melinda has in a meantime lowered the aircraft to the safe height and disabled stealth mode, but even though we were perfectly visible now, nobody seemed to pay attention to us. Well, I didn’t blame them; what was happening on a theater yard was far more captivating.

“May!” – I contacted her over a radio – “All weapons stand by.”

“On it” – she replied quickly.

We started towards the theater yard, where the aliens were menacing the mob. I couldn’t see whether there were any fatal victims, but something was telling me that I could count on that… I activated my weapons; familiar shapes in my hands made me feel a little better.

All we could see were still only these weird giant creatures wreaking havoc all around, but where the hell was Loki?? And then I saw him. Dressed in a perfectly cut black tux and coat, he casually walked out of the theater building, playfully waving a cane in his right hand. Even in these regular clothes he stood out even more than his giant creatures. Then something weird happened; a kind of a golden glow surrounded him, very faint at first but getting stronger by the second. His image started to change, earthly clothes were now gone, replaced with his metal and leather armor, a cane in his hand became a blue crystal tipped spear; on his head appeared a golden helmet with long, curved horns at the top and at the very end a long, dark green, elaborately draped cape materialized on his shoulders. Golden glow was now gone; the transformation was complete.

“He is a bit of a showoff…” – said Captain America with a trace of distaste.

I didn’t comment on that even though I kind of agreed with it. Instead, I couldn’t get my eyes off Loki; in all his divine glory he was irresistible to watch, at least for me… He walked towards the crowd and his giants and gestured angrily towards the creature that looked like he was in charge of the other two. He spoke to the giant in a strange language that sounded like a snake hissing; it was hard to believe that such unearthly sounds could be actually articulated by a human being, but on the other hand… Loki definitely wasn’t one. He was more than that.

Giant answered something in the same alien language trying to argue, but Loki didn’t cave. He pointed his spear a tiny bit more towards the giant, that’s all, but the message was clear and giant understood it. He called off his two companions and all of them left in a hurry.

All that happened in seconds, while we were still on our way towards the yard. QuinJet kept hovering above our heads; Melinda activated both heavy cannons waiting for an excuse to use them. Loki finally saw the plane and smiled as if he was waiting for it; then he spread his arms like he wanted to hug the terrified crowd and smiled even wider and more joyfully.

“Well, isn’t it nice?” – he said loudly and vibrantly. It seemed like he genuinely had fun.

“Loki, drop your weapon and put your hands behind your neck!” – I raised my voice to be clearly heard. I walked through the crowd with Captain Rogers right beside me; both of my guns were aimed at Loki. He affixed his gaze at me as we were approaching him and again I saw in his eyes this mixture of fierceness, irony and playfulness; and also, I could have sworn that he actually was glad to see me… But he didn’t move. At least not at first. He stood there like a king in front of his people for a few seconds more and then, suddenly, he activated his spear, pointed it towards us and with a sudden move of his arm, he released an ice - blue beams of pure energy right in our direction. Killer rays stroke right between me and the Captain, then over the heads of other people and disappeared in the dark. They touched nothing. Loki was either a terrible shooter, or… a great one…

“Ok, that’s enough” – Captain Rogers walked towards him – “You know, last time I was in Germany I also saw a man standing above the others. We ended up disagreeing!” – he swung his shield and threw it at Loki with all the strength he had. Loki must have known how deadly of a weapon Captain’s shield was because he immediately ducked, rapidly and cautiously.

“Ha…” – he said – “A fine soldier, a man out of time…”

“I’m not the one who’s out of time here” - Captain started towards him and they clashed in one on one battle. Cap was incredibly strong, but Loki wasn’t of this Earth and fight was not even from the beginning. Almost every attack Captain attempted was immediately turned down by Loki and he was doing it with absolutely no visible effort; also it looked like he purposely only blocked the attacks, never actually attacked himself. He got hit hard a few times, but still Captain ended up on the ground a good few times. He was strong beyond human standards, but Loki was way stronger.

I moved towards them, trying to get behind Loki’s back; he was busy watching Captain and there was a chance I could approach him unnoticed. I deactivated my guns cause I wasn’t gonna bother with shooting; first of all I knew that his armor was way too strong to let the bullet in and secondly… well, for some reason I wasn’t ok with actually shooting him… I was getting closer and closer, I could see now every elaborated detail of Loki’s battle suit; I was almost right behind him and he still was not aware of my presence. Or so I thought. My plan was to get ahold of his spear which he wasn’t paying much attention to now; in a split of a second I saw my chance and grabbed it only to encounter a strong resistance. Loki wasn’t gonna let go, he probably knew what I was planning to do all along. Immediately losing interest in Captain Rogers, he turned to me; way taller than I was, now he seemed even mightier in his golden, horned helmet. He looked down at me; again I was very aware of him being only inches away, I liked that feeling and I hated myself for that. With one hand still on the spear I activated my other gun and aimed it right between his eyes.

“Uhh… there’s no need for that…” – he said with this low, warm and almost irresistible timbre of voice, leaning his head slightly.

“Let go of the spear” – I said slowly, trying to focus – “It’s over, Loki. I will shoot if I have to. Don’t make me do it.” – it was meant to be a threat, but it also sounded a little like a disguised request.

We looked straight into each others' eyes for a few short seconds; a trace of a smile appeared on Loki’s lips and I felt that he loosens his grip on a spear a little; he didn’t let completely go though. Then, all of the sudden and out of nowhere, I heard a hard rock music playing loudly; a heavy sound got closer in a blink and the source of the noise appeared – Tony Stark in his red and gold Iron Man suit has landed a few feet from us, immediately killed the music and released all his weapons; he stood there now, bristling with all kinds of guns and small missile launchers all aimed at Loki, like a giant deadly hedgehog.

“Make your move, my friend” – he said in a deep, metallic voice.

Loki said nothing; he let go of the spear, raised his hands up in a surrender gesture and slowly sat down on the stairs behind him. While doing it, the same golden glow has surrounded him for a moment again, but this time his fine armor has disappeared and after the glow was gone, he just remained sitting down in his regular leather outfit with his hands still up and eyes down.

“That was a good move” – said Tony, deactivating his weapons.

I disengaged my gun too, grabbed a spear and walked towards Tony, while Captain America approached Loki, cuffed him and taken him by the arm leading towards QuinJet. Loki walked alongside him, suddenly docile and quiet.

“Nice of you to finally join us, Tony” – I said teasingly as I approached him. He took off the Iron Man head-piece and laughed.

“You know I have a thing for dramatic entrances...”

“O yeah, I know _that_ …” – I smiled and added more seriously – “Good to see you, it’s been a while.”

“Yeah, good to see you too, Hayne” – he replied. He was as usual in a good mood, always bright and at his best and also as usual, he looked like he has just left the barber shop; his iconic facial hair style was flawless and well groomed.

“Ok, it looks like local police has it under control… Kinda, at least…” - I said, looking around – “Let’s go get our cargo back to base.”

We started towards QuinJet; Captain Rogers and Loki were already standing on a lifting platform, which started to climb up as soon as Tony and I have stepped on it. I observed Loki discretely; he was casually looking around with a mild interest and then he unexpectedly turned to me.

“Would you really have shot me?” – he asked straight forward in a light, conversational tone.

Fortunately, our platform has just reached the deck and we could go, so I just looked back at him and left inside the plane without a word. It must have amused him, because he laughed quietly. Captain Rogers took him inside, led to the bench and sat him down; Loki was obedient and calm all along, even though I knew that he could easily break out if he only wanted to. Now he was sitting still, with his head down and eyes affixed on cuffed hands.

“So, how are you doing Captain?” – I heard Tony from the other end of the plane – “You look in shape, what’s your thing? Pilates?”

Rogers looked at him confused.

“What?” – he said.

“You know, Pilates. Maybe planks or something? Well, you sure have missed a few things doing time as a capsicle… But you know, in certain age, you need to look after yourself, you should know something about it, yet well… I mean you look good for your, amm… what is it? 80 years?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about Mr. Stark” – Captain said cautiously, not sure how to react. Well, he didn’t know Tony as well as I did and he obviously didn’t know that he simply loved teasing people; with the straightest face he would say weirdest stuff, only to observe people’s reactions. And he was way too smart to ever get caught.

“Tony…” – I raised my eyebrows, letting him know that it’s time to cut it out.

“Ok, ok” – he laughed, patting Captain on the back – “I’m just kidding, man, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, I guess…” – Rogers loosened up a bit.

Loki observed the scene with an interest. I was sitting not far from him on a bench by the opposite side of a fuselage, so I had a pretty good view without making it obvious that I watch him. On the face of it, he looked relaxed and calm, but I was too experienced to miss other, less obvious signs. I noticed some small, involuntary nervous gestures; he clearly wasn’t as confident as he wanted us to think he was. At some point I didn’t manage to look away in time and his eyes caught mine; it was too late to do anything else, so I withstood his gaze, trying to keep my face emotionless. It wasn’t easy; it seemed like he looked right through and into me with these bright, blue and, well... beautiful eyes, I had to admit. And then he did something even worse. He smiled at me with this mixture of wickedness, playfulness and pure, undeniable charm. Did he even know the power of his smile?? Well, of course he did…

“I told you we will meet again” – he said quietly. That low, warm voice again and a strange, yet captivating accent…

“Yes you did” – I answered impassively, struggling to stay calm and handle his intense gaze.

He finally looked away, examining inside of the plane fuselage.

“Where are we going?” – he asked with the same casual curiosity as he did before.

“You will find out soon enough” – I didn’t mean to sound harsh, but all I wanted at that moment was for him to shut up and stop playing games with me. At least I thought that was what I wanted.

“I’m sure, I will” – he laughed quietly.

The plane started to jump; a little at the beginning and then the ride become much bumpier as turbulence grew stronger. Soon enough thunders and lightning came along, getting louder and brighter as they approached. Loki looked up and around with a noticeable discomfort.

“What’s the matter?” – asked Steve all the way from the end of the plane – “Scared of a little lightning?”

“Well, let’s just say I’m not overly fond of what follows…” – Loki kept looking up at the ceiling, suddenly tense and uncomfortable.

Unwittingly, I turned my head up as well, not sure what was I looking at or for; and then I suddenly found out what was Loki afraid of. It all happened within seconds, we heard a mighty thud on the plane’s roof and then a large part of the ceiling simply disappeared into the night torn out by an unimaginable force. Through the hole, I saw a silhouette of a huge man kneeling on the top of the plane; then he jumped in, broke Loki’s handcuffs as if they were made of paper, grabbed him by the collar of his coat and flew out carrying our prisoner with him. _Flew out_ … Nobody managed to react, even say anything, including Loki himself. We just stood there for a moment in the howling wind and slanting rain, taken totally by surprise; Tony was the first one to shake off the disbelief; he reached for his headpiece.

“What the…” – he muttered, putting it on.

“Wait!” – said Captain – “What are you doing?”

“We need to attack!”

“Yeah, but don’t we need a plan?”

“I _do_ have a plan: attack.” – Tony finally snapped his Iron Man headpiece on; electronic eyes lit up and he was ready to go. He quickly opened plane’s back gate and threw himself into the night. Powerful engines in his suit’s palms and feet fired up and he was on his way. I wasn’t wasting my time either; about the same time as Tony grabbed his helmet, I released my bike from the blockade that was holding it still on board, mounted it and turned on the engine. With a corner of my eye I saw Captain Rogers reaching for the parachute.

“I’d sit this one through, Cap” – I said – “I’ll be there much faster.”

He considered that for a moment and nodded.

“You’re probably right. Go.” – he said finally.

“Ok” – I pressed the button on my jacket’s collar and activated my headpiece that was now serving as a bike helmet. Designed and manufactured by Stark Industries, this piece of art was an exceptional item. Hidden completely in the collar, when released, it expanded in seconds, covering my head with an impenetrable metal shield. The transparent front piece cover was night and thermo-vision enabled, and the whole thing was equipped with life support systems that could withstand even the space vacuum. I had no opportunity to test it that way yet though, and frankly speaking, I hoped I’d never have one. I hit the gas and the bike jumped forward like a tiger, straight through the gate and into the darkness of the night. In a matter of seconds this ingeniously engineered machine transformed into a small, maneuverable aircraft; super durable and stealth enabled covers shielded me inside, leaving a wide front window for optimum view, side engines fired up and I could literally feel the power of thousands of horsepower boosting the vehicle through the air. I loved it. But this ride wasn’t for pleasure.

I adjusted my tracking devices in search of Iron Man and whoever it was who took Loki. Soon enough, I found a clear marker of Iron Man and immediately changed the course to follow him; as soon as I did, I saw another marker, unidentified but bright and strong – that had to be Loki’s kidnapper. I sped up to catch up with them as soon as possible, but I was still pretty far away; Tony had a good 2-3 minutes of a head start and with these speeds it was a lot. After a few minutes I saw a change on my tracker; the distance between two markers I was chasing and me has dramatically decreased and kept decreasing with every passing second. That could mean only one thing: they stopped somewhere. I immediately slowed down a little to get a more precise reading; soon I was able to triangulate Tony’s signal and now I knew precisely where to find them. I lowered my altitude and slowed down more as I was approaching the spot. Strong beams of my headlights fished out of the darkness an image of forest of some kind; I also saw some single, not so high rocky hills here and there in between trees. Tony’s marker was blinking strongly on my tracker, but at this point I didn’t need it anymore. I saw him down there together with the other man; they were arguing and fighting in turns; I could see Tony’s firearms shooting on occasions and the other guy seemed to be conjuring a genuine lightning with something that from this far looked like an enormous hammer. _Could that be Thor…??_ I thought to myself getting ready to touch down and stop this silly argument. I looked around in search of Loki, but couldn’t spot him anywhere. _If he got away because these two had to show off their superhero egos…!_ But then I finally saw him; during landing I approached one of these rocky hills and there he was; sitting comfortably on the rock, watching the show from above and apparently having fun. He must have heard my engines, because he looked up and happily waved his hand to me as if he was greeting an old friend. I flew right pass him and finally landed. As soon as I touched down, covers on my vehicle slid down, letting me out; I disabled my helmet which obediently hid back in the jacket’s collar and started towards fighting men.

“Don’t you touch me!” – yelled Loki’s kidnapper, wielding his heavy hammer. He was tall, very masculine and massive. He wore a silver toned armor and a long red cape; golden blond long hair and neatly trimmed beard along with blue eyes completed the noble look of a God of Thunder.

“Then don’t take my stuff!” – replied Tony with his headpiece face cover up.

“Loki will face Asgard’s trial; none of this is of your concern!”

“He gives up the Tesseract, he’s all yours” – Tony snapped the face cover back in place and stood in a combat position – “Till then, stay out of the way!”

Thor started to wield his hammer again; I had to stop this…

“Hey!” – I yelled, but it looked like I could just as well yell at two raging bulls, so I activated both of my guns and sent a few dozen of rounds right in between these two.

That has finally gotten me their attention.

“Are you done here?” – I said angrily – “I mean what the hell? Thor, you are supposed to be on our side right? Then cooperate; Tony, you too. Right now we have to take care of this guy…” – I pointed at the hilltop where Loki was sitting – “…who I’m actually really surprised is still there…” - I added with a genuine astonishment. If I was him, I’d be long gone by now… Instead, he was still sitting on his rock, enjoying the show.

“Fine” – Tony lifted his face cover – “But you behave!” – he pointed at Thor who shook his head and sighed.

“I believe we haven’t been properly introduced” – he said – “I’m Thor Odinson.”

“We’ve figured that much” – I smiled – “This is Tony Stark, the Iron Man; I’m agent Hayne Davenport with S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“I’ve heard of you!” – Thor suddenly lightened up – “Last time I was here I met your colleague, Son of Coul was his name…”

“Yeah, Phil Coulson; he told me all about New Mexico” – I said – “It’s good to finally meet you.”

“My pleasure” – he bowed his head to pay respect in an old fashion way.

“Can we finally go?” – Tony impatiently spread out his arms, waiting.

“Yes, let’s” – Thor got on top of the hill in a few effortless leaps and grabbed Loki – “Lead the way.”

“Amm, if it’s all the same to you I’d actually prefer more civilized means of transport?” – said Loki timidly, pointing at my bike.

“I’m sure your brother will take good care of you” – I replied, mounting the machine – “Follow me.” – I quickly reactivated my helmet, to hide an involuntary smile that appeared when I saw Loki’s sorrowful expression; he looked so lost for a moment that I actually felt a hint of sympathy. Among other things, I felt recently… I locked the shields, hit the gas and we were on our way. I set the tracker to search for Helicarrier’s marker and in a meantime chose Phil’s frequency on my communicator.

“Phil?” – I said as soon as he answered – “We have him, get your guys ready and have them prepare a cozy room for our guest. Preferably something based on reinforced steel or something like that…”

“Ok, I think we have just the right thing on board” – Phil laughed – “Everything alright? I lost you there for a moment?”

“Yes, everything is fine; we just had an unexpected stop in the park…”

“What…?”

I giggled quietly.

“I’ll tell you later, but now I have a surprise for you!”

“Really…” – from the tone of his voice I could tell that he wasn’t overly happy.

“Don’t worry; it’s not a bad one” – I said – “I’m bringing over your friend you’ve met in New Mexico.”

“Thor is here?” – he suddenly sounded excited.

“None other” – I confirmed – “Ok, I have your marker on my radar, I’ll see you in amm… about 20 minutes”

“Alright” – he said – “Welcome committee will be waiting. See you soon. Over and out.”

“Over and out.” – I terminated the connection and focused on the flight.

 


	4. Chapter 4

When we finally approached the Helicarrier, I activated on-board communication line and entered a simple code. Officer on duty replied immediately.

“I see you on radar, what’s your marker?” – I heard his emotionless voice.

“Agent Hayne Davenport, marker signature Alpha-Charlie-Delta-Zulu-0225. Requesting landing permission in Hangar B.”

It took him a few seconds only to verify this information.

“You are clear to proceed, agent Davenport; continue to Hangar B, East entrance. Over.”

“Roger that. Over and out.”

I flew directly towards Hangar B where all aircrafts were landing when the base was airborne. Heavy gate of East entrance opened and closed quickly, as soon as I got in. Right before I did, I saw Tony and Thor with Loki getting inside, using a different gate, right next to the hangar. I turned my headpiece off, dismounted the bike quickly and left it for the maintenance crew to take care of; through huge window I could see a corridor outside the hangar, leading from the entrance gate inside the base. Now this corridor was filled with heavily armed security guards in full combat armor, waiting for our prisoner. Well, Loki was considered extremely dangerous. I guess he was. Soon after, I finally saw him surrounded by guards and cuffed; taller than most of them, he oozed with this imminent strength aura; he looked like he was just playing along out of his own free will but could crash everybody and break free anytime he wanted to. And I knew he could. I was standing almost next to the window, so when they got closer, I had him almost at the arm’s length away. As he passed by, he turned to me and sent me the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen; I had to force myself with everything I had, to not to respond the same way… This smile was clearly saying “I’m right where I wanted to be”, but there was something else to it too. Or was it just my imagination? Or was he simply playing with me; after all he was a trickster, a God of Mischief…

I had no idea what to think about it, but I didn’t look away. Nor did he, so we finally lost an eye contact only after they took a turn and disappeared around the corner. I was still standing there, looking at the empty hall when I heard Phil in my headset.

“Hayne, we’re delivering a package to the cell right now” – he said – “No problems so far.”

“I know” – I said – “I saw your musketeers. Keep an eye on him, ok?”

“Don’t worry” – he replied – “There’s a meeting starting soon in the command office, almost everybody is there already.” – he added quickly.

“Ok, thank you Phil, I’ll be right over there.”

“Alright, see you there.” – he got off the line.

I unzipped my jacket, still trying to wrap my mind around all that was happening here.

I got to the command office minutes later and just like Phil said, a good part of the team has been already there; Steve Rogers, Dr. Banner and agent Maria Hill were sitting at the round table, Thor was nervously pacing back and forth clearly with his mind elsewhere. Right next to the window I noticed Loki’s scepter placed on a holder that was standing on a bench. It wasn’t now stretched to its full length; the handle looked like it was composed of separate, movable elements which made sense since Loki was able to elongate it at will; golden metal covered with mystical runes shone in the sunlight; blue crystal on the scepter’s head sparkled beautifully. I took an empty spot at the table. Each seat had a monitor mounted in front of it into the table; all of them have now been showing a massive cage made of glass and steel, along with its inhabitant: Loki. He methodically examined the cell, walked around, looked down trying to see what’s underneath and touched the thick glass as if trying to assess its durability. All without a slightest hint of concern, it was more like he was examining the hotel room before he decided to stay in it.

“Don’t worry, it’s very well built”– that was Fury; the feed did not show anything except the cage, so we could only hear the Director’s voice – “Titanium reinforced steel and thermally annealed glass. Nothing can get out. But should you try, if you so much as only scratch that glass, well…” - we heard a mechanical clang and a sudden noise of a viciously howling wind – “This opens and there’s a thousands of feet down, free fall in a can”.

This finally seemed to make an impression on Loki, who cautiously looked down through the hole under his cage. A moment later howling stopped as Fury closed the hatch.

“Like I said” - he continued – “Very well built.”

“Indeed” – said Loki regaining his normal composure – “Yet somehow I get the feeling it wasn’t built for me?”

“For something much stronger than you.”

“Aaa, yes of course. The monster you brought along…” - Loki smiled – “Is that the way you treat your friends? You put them into the cage when they get, hmm… nervous?”

“Now that’s enough, smart ass” – Fury’s voice seethed with barely controlled anger.

Loki chuckled.

“Oh, it burns you to have come so close” – he said with this mischievous smile and low, vibrant voice – “You had your hands on a Tesseract and you lost it; that real, true power is no longer at your disposal… You must be truly desperate to have assembled so, umm... unusual team to get it back…”

"How desperate am I?” – said Fury emphatically – “You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

“Yes, I might just as well, but in the end you never know who your true ally could be…” – Loki’s expression became serious for a brief, almost unnoticeable moment just to go back to his usual nonchalant pose a split of a second later – “Meanwhile, you may wanna prepare your team to deal with a higher power!” – he added.

“Well, leave that to me and umm… let me know if higher power wants a magazine or something” – Fury’s voice was bitter, cold as ice and full of contempt. He didn’t say anything else and it seemed like he had left, leaving Loki alone in his glass prison. He didn’t seem to mind; he quickly looked around and located a live feed camera. At least it seemed like he was looking for it because once he’s found it, he just stood there, looking up, directly into camera lenses. Everybody could see the same feed, but for some reason it felt like he is looking directly and only at me; intensively and disturbingly. I switched off the monitor and massaged my temple with fingers. This thing has not had even begun for good yet and I was already so very tired…

Nobody said anything for a while; Steve Rogers was the first to break silence.

“So what is he really up to?” – he asked a universal question that everybody had in mind – “Thor, any ideas? You know him best…”

Thor sighed.

“I feel like I don’t anymore…” - he said with a hint of sadness in his voice – “Anyway, he appeared, accompanied with Frost Giants, which means there’s an army of Chitauri waiting. That’s what he needs Tesseract for, to open a gate for them.”

“What are Chitauri?” – asked Dr. Banner.

“You don’t wanna know.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Worse.”

“So they’re planning an invasion...” – I added with a very unpleasant crunch in my stomach.

“I’m afraid so” – Thor nodded in agreement – “They must have settled somewhere by now to build the portal for them.”

“That’s what he needs Selvig for” – concluded Maria.

“Selvig?” – Thor lightened up a bit – “He’s a friend.”

“And a brilliant scientist.” – continued Maria – “Loki has him under some kind of a spell along with one of ours. Turns out he’s made a perfect choice; Selvig can build anything Loki needs and agent Barton can get him anything that’s needed for it…”

“What can we expect?” – I asked – “I mean, what kind of defense will we need, how the hell do we fight Frost Giants and these… Chitauri?”

Thor looked at me with concern.

“We’ll need everything we have and more” – he finally answered – “And we can expect an actual hell to break loose, literally. Chitauri are the ancient race of warriors and conquerors, they come in a variety of highly specialized forms like sub-races, each of them serving one specific purpose only. Combine that with power hungry Frost Giants and actually the most dangerous of them all: Loki, well…” – he suspended his voice meaningfully.

“Loki’s mind is a bag full of cats” – Dr. Banner pinched in – “You can smell crazy on him. If you ask me, I’m far more terrified of these Giants…”

Thor turned to him, his eyes shining with a noble anger.

“Have care how you speak” – he said pointing at Banner – “Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother.”

“He killed 80 people in two days”– mentioned Maria.

“He’s adopted…” – Thor replied with a hint of uncertainty.

“Actually…” – I said – “I don’t think he did all that…” – everybody turned to me as one, with big question marks in their eyes as I continued – “From what I saw; only Frost Giants were at work there. What’s more, back in the base, he has actually stopped one of them from killing Fury and he also saved my life back there…”

Nobody said anything for a while, digesting what I’ve just said.

“What does it mean?” – asked Steve Rogers finally.

“Are you saying…?” – said Thor at the same time.

“I don’t know what it means and I’m not saying anything” – I raised my hands in a defense gesture and shook my head in confusion – “I just don’t know…”

My eyes met Thor’s gaze; he was looking at me with a difficult to determine expression. Could it have been a hint of hope? I shook my head again and looked away.

“As usual, nobody waited for me” – we heard a voice coming from the entrance to the Command Office.

I turned around, just to see Tony coming our way. He wore Black Sabbath t-shirt, a casual sport jacket and as usually beamed with energy. Phil was one step behind him.

“That’s because as usual, you are late” – he said.

Tony grinned and made his way to the actual Command Center placed on the small base right in front of big illuminator. It consisted of several computer stations and some other apparatus, of unknown to me purpose. As he passed by Thor, he playfully poked his arm.

“No hard feelings, big guy” – he said cheerfully – “You have a mean swing, I like it.” – not paying any more attention to clearly confused demigod, he walked towards the platform.

Phil approached Thor on his way to the table and stood beside him.

“It’s good to see you again, Thor” – he greeted him with a smile.

It took Thor a short while to remember who this sympathetic, smiling person in a black suit is.

“Agent Coulson, right?” – he lightened up – “It’s good to see you too!”

“You may wanna know that predicting upcoming events, S.H.I.E.L.D. has appointed Miss Jane Foster for a very urgent job. Very well paid job and very far away from here…” - he winked.

Thor smiled in content.

“Thank you, Son of Coul” – he said with gratitude – “I appreciate it very much.”

“Not a problem” - Phil nodded and took an unoccupied place by the table.

Jane Foster… this name rang a bell… And then I remembered Phil talking about a woman scientist that was along with Dr. Selvig involved in New Mexico events; her name was Jane Foster and Thor was particularly interested in her…

I smiled to my thoughts. Nice…

In a meantime, Tony stepped on the platform of a Command Center. He looked around at all the monitors, covered his right eye with a hand and looked around again.

“How is Fury seeing all this?” – he asked curiously.

“He turns” – said Maria coldly. Tony had a gift of getting on some people’s nerves. Officer agent Hill was clearly one of them.

“Sounds exhausting” – he replied as if he never saw her expression –“Ok, let’s get to the point.” – like a professor getting ready to speak to much less educated and slightly dumb audience, he sighed deeply and then started.

“Tesseract needs an energy source to actually begin to work” – he said – “Something to literally kick-start the cube.”

“What kind of energy may that be?” – asked Steve Rogers.

“I’m not sure yet, but it has to be something of a very high energy density. We are talking about density comparable to a neutron star, so it’s not something that is easily accessible, but…” - he suspended his voice for a moment – “Unfortunately Dr. Erik Selvig is there, so we can count on him finding the right solution soon. Starting the cube is one thing. Keeping it in a stable condition is a whole other story. The only stabilizing agent powerful enough I can think of is iridium. This means that Selvig thought about it too.”

“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” – asked Maria with a voice as cold as ice.

“Last night” – it was never easy to throw Tony off – “The packet, Selvig's notes. The Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"– he looked at us waiting for any response. All he got in return were our empty gazes; nobody had a slightest idea what he was talking about… All, except Dr. Banner.

“Well, you’re right” – he said, suddenly excited – “He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier and then find the way to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect with iridium…

“Finally!” – Tony raised his arms with relief and walked over to Banner – “Someone who speaks English. It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner” – he enthusiastically shook Banner’s hand – “Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

“Yeah, umm… thank you. I guess…” - Banner returned the gesture, noticeably embarrassed – “But call me Bruce, well everybody, please…”

“Ok” – Tony gave him a friendly pat on the back – “And you are absolutely right” – he immediately went back to the matter – “Once he accomplishes that, he can basically achieve a heavy ion fusion in any given reactor on the planet; after that there’s just one step to…”

“Yes” – Banner pitched in – “To add anti-electron collisions effect and voila…”

“Guys, I assume you have it all figured out now, although none of us has a slightest idea what are you talking about”-

I said, interrupting this dialog – “But let me just recap on one thing: this high energy density object is something essential to this whole Tesseract thing to work in the first place, right?”

“Right, why?” – they both turned to me.

“Because, I just remembered something about Schlossplatz Theater building” – I sighed, expecting them not to like what I was gonna say.

“Except being the actual theater” – I continued – “It serves as security storage; it has best vaults money can buy, guarded by top notch gear. I also remember that about a year ago when Thor was here for the first time, some unusual phenomena were taking place all over the world; including rains of very weird objects. A few of those were actually tiny pieces of a matter that no scientist could explain or even name, but closest resemblance I remember being mentioned, was to a neutron star… Some of this substance was stored in Schlossplatz vaults…”

It took a few moments until this information and its implication sunk in.

“Son of a bitch…” – Tony accurately expressed what we have all felt now – “So he has everything in place…”

“Who has what in place?” – Fury has entered the Command Office and was walking towards the table now.

“Sir, it looks like we finally know what is going on here” – said Phil and shortly relayed to Fury all we spoke about so far – “We are up to way more that we have initially anticipated…”

“Well, what’s your game plan then? Thor?”– Fury leaned over the table, waiting.

“What do you wish me to do?

“The real question is: what are you prepared to do? That goes to everybody” – he looked at each and every one of us; he saw tired and unsure faces.

“I just spoke to Loki” – Fury continued with disappointment – “And why do I have a feeling that he’s the only one who actually wants to be on this ship??”

Nobody moved for a while; Fury knew how to be intimidating and we all also knew that on some level he had simply been right.

A weird sound appeared all of the sudden, cutting into the silence. Something like trembling and metallic whizzing of unknown origin. We looked at each other, puzzled.

“What the…” – Tony has begun, but didn’t get to finish.

“Guys!” – Bruce cut in, pointing at the bench by the window – “Look…”

We all followed his gaze. Loki’s scepter was the source of the noise; it was vibrating slightly in the holder’s clutches and emitting this delicate, metallic hum.

“He is locked up, so how the hell is he doing it?” – Fury wasn’t happy.

“Well, Director you’re not gonna like it, but I think that this spear is powered directly by the cube…” - said Tony – “And this may mean that something significant is happening in this very moment. Like getting Tesseract to work. We don’t have much time…”

“So what’s the plan??!” – Fury was done waiting and being patient.

“Sir” – said Steve Rogers – “What we have already found out, gives us a lot of information as to how to prepare for the attack and win. How I see it, we should start with finding their lair; if we do it soon enough we might even manage to stop the invasion before it happens.”

“Well? Where is it then?”

“I’ll ask him” – I said, standing up – “But Sir, I’m gonna need an absolute carte blanche on this one. I need you to trust my judgment and methods. Please.”

Fury looked at me with his only good eye for a few very long seconds. I withstood this glance.

“Granted” – he said finally – “But I need results.”

“I’ll have them, Sir” – I assured him and moved away from the table. I was positive that I will be able to get this information from Loki, but I also knew that I’m gonna need some serious help.

“Thor” – I turned to the demigod – “First, I need to talk to you. In private.”

He raised his eyebrows, surprised.

“Yes. It’s important. Please?” – I gestured towards the door asking him to come with me.

He hesitated for a moment, but finally shrugged.

“As you wish...” – he said and followed me.

“Thank you” – I smiled quickly and led him out of the Command Office.


	5. Chapter 5

“Now, I need to know more about Loki” – I said when we found a quiet corner and settled there – “What’s his story, anything you think can be useful.”

Thor looked at me with an uncertainty.

“I’d rather not discuss such details with… umm, no offense, but… with a stranger…” – he said reluctantly – “Why do you need to know that anyway?”

I sighed and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Look” – I said gently – “I understand that these are family matters, very private, but let me tell you a little about myself first. I am really good at interrogations, I can make people tell me anything I need them to before they even realize it, can call it a gift; but it always helps to have an angle. In Loki’s case, well… in his case I _need_ an angle to be able to do anything. He isn’t what I usually deal with, not a common spy or whatever. Without your help Thor, I will accomplish nothing and we may lose our biggest chance to stop the invasion. So again, I understand that all this is very private, but I need you to help me, there’s no other choice. And I promise you, that whatever you gonna tell me today, will stay with me only; you have my word.” – I added.

I kept looking at him, honestly and openly; I hoped that he will see and understand my intentions and decide to tell me his brother’s story.

It took a few awful long moments before he finally sighed and nodded in agreement.

“I will tell you about him, agent Davenport” – he said – “For some reason I feel like I can trust you.”

“Thank you” – I smiled with relief – “And please, call me Hayne.”

“If that is your wish” – he nodded again with respect – “So what do you need to know?”

“Pretty much everything” - I said changing my position to sit more comfortably – “Why is he acting like this, what might have led to it, what exactly happened a year ago?”

Thor sighed and also sat more comfortably, resting his back against a wall.

“It has probably started way before that” – he said – “You see, Loki isn’t in fact of Asgard, he is a son of King Laufey of Jotunheim. His ancestors are Frost Giants…”

“Frost Giants…” – I repeated in disbelief. With the eyes of imagination, I saw horrifying, inhuman figures of alien creatures that accompanied Loki and I refused to believe that he could share any common bloodline with them…

“It can’t be” – I said out loud – “Loki looks nothing like these… creatures!”

“I know. My father, Odin, found Loki as an infant, a mere newborn after his victorious battle in Jotunheim. You see, in our world, when you are that young you are able to adapt quickly. This little baby was left there to die; he was alone, terrified and when he saw my father he immediately became like him. That I guess was his cry for help, love and acceptance. That’s what he always wanted… Anyway, he didn’t know about any of this up until recently, until right before I was banished to Midgard for my unimaginable stupidity, but that’s another story. He found out the truth by accident and that’s when all this started. A crisis, I guess? He couldn’t bear the truth, he suddenly felt alienated, left out and unwanted. It was all in his mind; our father was never good at expressing feelings, but our mother would give her life for Loki. And so would I. But he didn’t see it.”

I listened to Thor telling the story more and more passionate, I could see how much pain and suffering he carried in his soul; I could almost feel how much he still loved his brother in spite of all that has happened. I have also begun to understand how hurt and torn inside Loki really was; the more Thor was revealing, the more understanding, sympathy and compassion I felt for his brother.

Thor kept talking; he was describing events that have happened in Asgard while he was here on Earth and because of that, he only heard about them after he was back. During Thor’s absence, Odin got seriously sick and the throne was vacated; unbeknown to everybody else, queen Frigga has offered a position to Loki who was actually next in a succession line after absent Thor. Yet shortly after that, Loki’s heritage was denied to him, due to an unfortunate chain of events. That seemed to be the final disaster for Loki, who still did not regain his stability and led him to turning to Jotunheim.

“He came up with a plan” –Thor continued – “He turned to Jotunheim for an alliance in invading and taking over Asgard. He actually led Frost Giants into Asgard…”

“What?” – I couldn’t believe my ears. It was so hard to listen about Loki’s past, vicious actions; it seemed so unlike him, so unlike this Loki that I was getting to know recently. Like there were two entirely different persons…

“Unfortunately, that’s truth” – Thor said with sadness and pain in his voice – “In his twisted mind, Loki imagined that he’ll let Giants into Asgard and then save it from them, thus becoming a worthy son in Odin’s eyes… Well, he sort of ended up saving Asgard; he definitely saved Odin by killing King Laufey in his defense, but for my father that wasn’t enough. He was furious and I suppose not thinking straight at that moment; actually he was a reason of Loki’s final fall. When I ended up fighting with him on Bifrost, he slipped and almost fell off. I caught him and was going to pull him back, but then Odin appeared and…. well… Loki was trying to grant his forgiveness, but it was denied to him. He couldn’t bear this last rejection and let go of my hand. I will never forget his face when he was falling down into the void…” - these last words came out almost as a whisper; Thor stopped for a moment, trying to fight overwhelming emotions.

My throat clenched and I struggled to stop the tears rushing to my eyes. I blinked extensively and finally was able to regain control. I didn’t want Thor to see this, but I doubt he would have even if I didn’t hide it. His mind was far away, reliving this horrifying moment over and over again.

“I thought he was dead, everybody did” – he finally resumed – “We mourned him every day and never stopped until Heimdall has finally seen him arriving to Midgard. Heimdall is a guardian of Asgard, he sees everything he wants to see on every world in all nine realms” – he added as an explanation – “It’s a mystery why he couldn’t see Loki for this whole year, nobody knows where he was. I came here as soon as he told me that; I came with our mother’s blessing and father’s restrained acceptance. When I took him from your plane, I started talking to him, but we got interrupted by your weird friend. The rest you know. And by the way, I’m sorry I damaged your plane” – he added with an honest regret.

I smiled quickly.

“Don’t worry about that” – I said – “It’s already been repaired.”

He nodded.

“So was any of this useful to you?” – he asked. 

“Oh, yeah. More than you think…” - I thought back about what he told me – “I think I’m beginning to understand a lot of things…”

Thor looked at me seriously.

“What do you have in mind?” – he asked – “Do you think that he really might want to… I don’t know… try to make up for all that has happened in the past?”

I didn’t answer right away; I didn’t know what to say. Yes, that thought has crossed my mind a thousand times, but was that really the case? Or was it just my wishful thinking based on my personal interest in Loki? Last time I’ve made that mistake and trusted the wrong person, it ended up with a disaster… It cost a life of an agent, my deeply wounded heart and almost a career… I couldn’t afford to make such mistake ever again. I had to put my emotions totally aside; I couldn’t let them cloud my judgment at all cost.

“I don’t know Thor, I hope so” – I finally answered, standing up – “And that’s what I’m gonna find out right now.”

“I wish that was so” – he stood up also – “I don’t care what he did, I will never give up on him… He is my brother..”

I looked at him warmly.

“He is very lucky to have a brother like you” – I said honestly.

“I think I’m not the only one here who cares deeply about his fate” – he mentioned very perceptively and with a hint of a smile.

“Let’s hope we’re right” – I smiled without joy – “Thank you for your trust Thor; you have no idea how much I appreciate it…”

“Like I said, I trust you will use it right” – he said seriously – “Good luck.”

“Thank you” – I nodded – “I’ll see you later then.”

I left him alone with his thoughts and started towards Deck C, where Loki was kept in his glass prison. I was genuinely unsure about this confrontation; I was a little afraid of it, but I also couldn’t wait for it; I had to finally know once and for all, what have I got myself into.

 


	6. Chapter 6

I stood in front of a closed pressure door; behind them was the spacious room with Loki's glass cell. I stood there for a while already, pulling myself together and getting ready to confront Loki. That was it; no more games and uncertainty. You're gonna go in there and squeeze the truth out of him like you always do – I told myself – No matter what he's gonna try to pull off; you're just gonna do your job.

I took a deep breath and keyed in a code into the door lock. Mechanism beeped and the door swung open before me. I stepped in. Glass cage in the center of the room was way bigger than it appeared when watched via video feed earlier. There was literally nothing in there, only glass walls and titanium skeleton. And Loki. He was sitting on the floor with his head down; calm and relaxed. Alarmed by the sound of the opening door, he looked up, saw me coming in and immediately lightened up. He got up in one smooth, effortless movement and greeted me with a wide, sincere smile which made me melt a little inside; I managed to stay calm though. The door closed behind me and I walked towards the cage; Loki walked towards me too, still smiling.

"I was waiting for you" – he said softly.

"Is that so?"

"I knew you wouldn't leave me alone here for too long…" – still this beautiful smile and sparkling eyes looking at me warmly.

It's gonna be harder than I expected…

"Don't flatter yourself" - I replied – "I'm here to question you."

"Of course you are…" – he walked all the way to the glass wall of his cell and now there were only these few inches of reinforced glass standing between us; I could touch him if it wasn't for the barrier. I took a step back.

"You clearly let us capture you" – I said – "You wanted to be here. What's your story?"

Loki sighed.

"Is this conversation private?" – he asked all of the sudden.

I was expecting that; that's why I asked Fury for carte blanche on this one. I hesitated for a moment and then slowly walked towards the control panel. A few clicks and audio / video transmission from this room was terminated. I took my personal communicator off my ear, turned it off too and hid it in the pocket. I looked back at Loki; he observed me very intensely.

"It is now" – I said – "I'm listening."

"First of all, I needed an attention" – he said still standing close to the glass wall.

"Well, I'd say you succeeded" – I said – "Let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-god; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breathtaking anger management issues; a master assassin, and you, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan" – he admitted.

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk. And frankly speaking, you're missing the point. There's no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it and we will take Clint and Erik back."

Loki laughed quietly.

"Ooh, I can assure you that I can think of at least one scenario where I could come out on top…" – it was very clear what he meant by that, yet a smile that appeared on his lips was nothing else but pure sympathy and innocence.

I nodded with appreciation.

"You're good" – I admitted with a smirk – "But you can just as well drop the act; all your tricks and all your charm. It's not gonna work."

"There's no act" – he said quietly, suddenly serious – "No tricks, just me…"

I withstood this gaze; just now I realized that his eyes actually change color depending on the light, or maybe something else, I didn't know. Sometimes they were bright blue, sometimes gray and sometimes – like now – intensely green. Beautiful and captivating every time. I forced these thoughts away.

"Well, we'll see about that…" - I replied also quietly and then continued after a brief pause – "I still need my answer, Loki. What is your story, why are you here?"

He looked down, crossed his arms behind his back and started walking back and forth; I could tell he was struggling a little before he finally stopped, turned to me and answered.

"What if I told you" – he started cautiously – "That I'm here to offer my help?"

I raised my eyebrows.

"I'd say: nice try." – I replied.

"Is it so difficult to believe?" – he spread his arms and looked at me with this little smile that made him look so innocent and vulnerable – "I don't wish to brag but I saved your Director's life and yours for that matter. I did everything I could to minimize any damage done by Frost Giants; you got to give me that. I've played along with them to not to raise any suspicion yet, but now it's time for me to start doing what I actually came here for."

"And that would be what, exactly?"

"To stop the danger that Jotunheim represents to all realms once and for all."

"Well, that's very noble" – I said – "But what's in it for you?"

I crossed arms on my chest and walked a few steps towards the glass wall; I needed to see Loki's every single involuntary expression and gesture.

He hesitated for a moment before he answered.

"Redemption" – he said softly with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Was he such a good of an actor or did he really mean it? Was this honest and sincere look on his handsome face real, or just another perfect act of a trickster god? I didn't know yet.

"To stop Jotunheim…" - I repeated slowly – "Well, that didn't end up well last time, did it?

That has clearly disturbed him; he turned to me, walked towards the glass wall.

"You spoke to Thor" – that wasn't a question, simply a confirmation of a fact.

"Yes, I did." – I looked him straight into the eyes.

"Well, then you know my story" – he sighed sadly – "I'm not gonna deny any of it; it happened. So reckless and rebellious I was, blind and deaf to any reason. I paid an enormous price for that, but I deserved it. All I want now is not a throne, no glory, nor power" – he raised his voice, talking with passion and pain; to himself rather than to me – "All I want; all I ever wanted is to be their equal. Not a misplaced Frost Giant, a stolen relic of a long forgotten war, but a true son to my father…"

"Which father, Loki?" – I approached the cage and stood right in front of him looking at him closely –"The one that you have killed, or the one you wanted to dethrone?"

I felt almost physical pain hurting him like that, but I had no other choice. I had to throw him off, catch him off guard to see the real Loki under that flawless, charismatic façade. I had to determine once and for all what his real intentions were…

His face turned into a mask of pain, I could see that hurt him deeply; he felt betrayed and rejected once again. He looked at me with an endless sorrow and a trace of disbelief as if he couldn't believe what he's just heard. He leaned forward and rested his head on a forearm pressed against the glass; my heart broke when I saw this tormented soul behind his bright eyes, now dimmed with tears.

"I was a fool back then" – he said quietly – "And I was a fool now, thinking… hoping… I can see now, that I don't deserve your trust, I don't deserve anything; a monster that I've become… I was just deluding myself that of all people here, you would accept a cry for help from someone who is really willing to try…"

I was still standing there, right in front of Loki; with a sore throat and tears dangerously close to bursting out. That was enough, I had what I wanted, and I finally saw Loki's true face; all I wanted now was to hold him and comfort him… Jesus, why did I care so much about him…?

Instead, I put my hand on a cold glass and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm so sorry…" - I said softly and quietly, struggling to keep my voice steady.

It seemed that only now I finally managed to throw him off completely.

"What…?" – he looked me with an absolute confusion.

"I'm sorry" – I repeated – "I had to say all these terrible things, I had to be sure…"

"Sure of what?" – he stood up straight and looked at me suspiciously and with anticipation.

I sighed.

"Of your true intentions. I had to finally know whether I can trust you or not." – I was speaking quietly, partially to calm him down and partially because I still didn't trust my voice – "That is how I do it, that's what makes my methods so effective. It's my… I don't know, a gift…"

"Some gift…" - he closed his eyes for a moment with what looked like a relief – "So what's the verdict?" - he asked after a while.

I allowed myself a little smile when I saw him coming back to his normal self.

"Let's just say…" - I replied – "You have my attention…"

Now he smiled too, obviously feeling better and safer.

"That's a start…" - he said – "Can we talk now without these, umm… methods of yours…?"

"I'm listening" – I nodded – "What is your offer?"

"Here it is" – he crossed his arms behind the back and started walking slowly back and forth; focused, but visibly relieved – "I assume you have already figured out the connection between Tesseract and my scepter?" – he glanced at me quickly and I confirmed that with a nod.

"What if I told you that the same connection can be used to deactivate Tesseract and close the portal once and for all?"

"And what proof do I have that this is actually a truth?"

"Haven't we just settled the trust issues?" – he raised his eyebrows.

I sighed.

"Fine. Let's say I buy it, but if so, why didn't you simply disarm the Tesseract yourself, what is all this elaborated plan of letting us capture you and getting here actually for?" - I crossed my arms on the chest.

"Well"– he stopped pacing and stood right before me, with this little smile that made him so irresistible – "That's the whole problem. It takes two to be done."

I shook my head, genuinely surprised.

"And you are coming with this to me" – I said slowly – "Instead of for instance taking your spell off Hawkeye or Dr. Selvig? What sense does it make?"

Loki chuckled quietly.

"Working with either of them wouldn't be as pleasurable as having you by my side… but…" – he saw me getting ready to comment on that and raised his hand quickly – "But there's another reason for that. They both are actively engaged in constructing the portal; pulling them off now would immediately raise unnecessary suspicion. Besides, I want to release both of your friends as soon as I have a chance; actually for agent Barton, this chance will present itself fairly quickly…"

"You're trying very hard" – I said cautiously – "Almost too hard…"

"Listen to me" – Loki's face became serious again – "Yes, I am trying hard. I really need you to take me seriously, to take this leap of faith and trust me. For many reasons…"

I looked up at him standing right before me, proud and noble in his prison, but at the same time so irresistibly appealing. As if that wasn't enough, he smiled a little and raised his eyebrows in an inaudible question; his eyes were bright gray now and full of light as he was looking straight into mine.

Trying to ignore my racing heartbeat, I looked down for a second and sighed.

"Leap of faith…" - I said – "I'd say it's a pretty big one you're asking for here…"

"Hayne" – he leaned towards me, touching the glass with his fingertips – "I am offering you a way to win this battle, to stop the invasion. Chitauri are not to be taken lightly, this may be your only chance to successfully defend Midgard."

"And you expect me to do what? Open this cage and let you out?"

"Oh no, that will not be necessary. You see, I will be freed by my men soon; everything has to look like it's planned to infiltrate you."

"Wait a minute, are you telling me now that we are about to be attacked???" – I couldn't believe what I've just heard.

He immediately raised his hand reassuringly.

"No, calm down, please… All I'm saying is that soon I will be rescued from here with minimal damage; I was very specific about that."

"Minimal damage…?" – I stared at him and for the first time during this whole conversation, I actually didn't know what to say.

I must have looked pretty ridiculous, because he smiled with amusement.

"My dear Hayne" – he said with a warm sparkle in his eyes – "I promise there will be no harm done to anyone of you, you may just have to deal with a small hole or two in your ship… It has to be done this way, so I can come back and then we shall meet and do what we planned."

"What you say you have planned" – I corrected him automatically, but he didn't seem to pay attention.

"When they come, I will send agent Barton inside and then he's yours, like I promised. Remember that you need to knock him down unconscious to sever the scepter influence. Dr. Selvig will be released as soon as there is a chance for it. After I'm gone, we need to meet as soon as possible at 41.92114 north and -87.80923 west" – he was very specific and focused; his usual playful and lighthearted pose was now gone – "It's a secluded place close to the base we have set up; you will be able to get there unnoticed. What we are after is a crystal a gem of sorts, which when used properly, will shut down the Tesseract and destroy the portal. There's much more to that, but it's not a time or a place here to discuss it now. It has to be mounted into my scepter in order to work, but I'm sure your team will know how to do it. The reason I need your help with that, besides the obvious one…" - he had to throw that in along with a quick smile – "Is that it's very heavily guarded, even I have limited access to it. The lock requires two keys used at the same time to open the vault."

I nodded thoughtfully.

"And that's all…? Break in, get the crystal and you will become a hero…?"

"Midgard will be saved, remember?" – he said quietly.

The whole plan and reasoning looked relatively simple, doable and credible. I wanted to trust him so much and now I actually had pretty solid grounds to be able to. Leap of faith, he said… A big one, but I was ready to take it. I subconsciously have already made my decision; it's just only now I have finally realized that and admitted it. I wanted to do it. Yet still with a little margin of caution, I actually believed him; I believed the honest expression on his face and a sparkle in his eyes when he looked at me with this warm little smile which I could never bear to watch calmly. But I knew that my decision wasn't based on the way I felt about him; before I came here to talk to him, I was absolutely ready to throw all that away in case I discovered he was just playing me and everyone else, I was ready to forget how badly I am being drawn to him and just bury personal feelings deep down. Now, it seemed like I didn't have to. He was telling the truth about his intentions and the way he treated me, talked to me and looked at me all this time, made me suspect that it wasn't a mere pose or act just to gain my trust; it looked very real…

But that would have to wait, first thing is first. I took a step back.

"I think I have all I needed. Thank you for your cooperation" – I said in an official manner and started to turn around to leave.

"Leaving me all alone here again?"

God, this velvet voice again…

"You're not gonna be here that long, according to what you've just told me?" – I said.

"True. I'll see you soon anyway." – he replied.

"I didn't say I will be there…" – I looked him straight in the eyes.

"Yes" – he smiled – "You didn't say you will…"

I slightly shook my head.

"Like I said before, you are good…" – I repeated with appreciation and started towards the exit. While walking, I suddenly remembered something from my previous conversation with Thor; I stopped and slowly turned back again. Loki was still standing next to the glass, in the very same position; watching my every move.

"There's one more thing" – I said quietly – "Your brother loves you very much; he has never given up on you and he never will. I thought you should know that…"

Loki closed his eyes for a moment, with relief and quiet happiness. When he looked at me again, his eyes were full of light, and a smile on his face was able to melt the rock. It definitely wasn't something I could watch without my heart rapidly racing.

"Thank you" – he said gratefully.

"You're welcome…" – I couldn't help myself but smile back to him. It felt great to be able to let a little emotion out; I was also genuinely glad that I could make him this happy after all these horrible things I had to say and do before. Not to mention, that his reaction was another important piece of information I gathered and that added up to the picture of real Loki, which I liked more and more with every minute…

I walked towards the control panel.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around" – I said just before turning the audio / video feed back on.

Loki only nodded, still gazing at me warmly and intensely. Regretfully, but without further hesitation, I turned around and walked towards the door; they slid open, I walked out and while entering the code to lock them from outside, I took one last look at Loki. He still stood there, casually leaning on the glass wall of his cell; relaxed, calm and still with this lovely little smile. I hit the enter key and pressure door slid closed, leaving me alone in the hall. I exhaled deeply, only now being able to relax; this whole interrogation, the intensity of it and sheer Loki's presence has worn me out more than I thought. Unfortunately, there was not a single minute to rest for or to waste; if what he told me was true – and I could feel it was – we had very little time before the real action was about to start. I turned my earpiece on and put it in place.

"Special agent Hayne Davenport, requesting immediate connection to Director Fury on a secured line" – I said and started to walk towards the C-Deck elevator.

"Connection established" – I heard an operator's voice a few seconds later – "You're on, agent Davenport."

"Sir? This is agent Davenport" – I said as soon as they put me through – "I just finished with Loki, we need to talk immediately!"

 


	7. Chapter 7

Fury sat back in the chair, put his hands together and looked at me seriously and with puzzlement on his rough face. I just finished relaying all that Loki told me and what has happened during the questioning. Well, leaving out some unrelated stuff…. 

“And that’s why I’m sure it is a right thing to do, Sir” – I said – “I know it looks risky like hell, but you have always trusted my judgment; I need this trust now more than ever.”

He didn’t say anything for a long while. Finally, he sighed and leaned forward to rest his elbows on a table.

“Is there any chance that he is playing us, that this is just an elaborated hoax?”- he asked slowly.

“Yes” – I had to answer truthfully – “Yes, there’s always such chance, but in this case it’s minimal. I’ve thought this through Sir; he won’t gain anything by luring me in there and then what? Holding me a prisoner? A hostage? He’s already got two of ours. And he promised that agent Barton will be released soon, so when that happens, I think it will be safe to assume that all this is not a hoax.”

Fury nodded.

“Alright” – he said finally – “You have a go then. After you intercept the crystal I assume you will be coming back with Loki?”

I nodded.

“When and if you decide it’s safe to bring him here and you both come back, only then I will inform the group. For now I don’t want any unnecessary speculations or suspicions. This mission’s objective doesn’t go below level 9 clearance; it stays between us and agent Coulson exclusively. You report directly to Coulson. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Sir” – I said – “Understood.”

“Good. Now notify Coulson and get ready. For anything. Literally.”

“Yes, Sir” – I got up ready to go.

“Agent Davenport?”

I stopped and looked at him with an inaudible question in my eyes.

“I assume you understand how much depends on you now” – said Fury very seriously –“I also assume you know that there aren’t a lot of people I’d trust with it; maybe one more. Actually, exactly just one more.”

“I know that Sir and thank you.” – I allowed myself a little smile. I knew that what he’s just said was one of the highest forms of appreciation that he was capable of expressing.

Fury nodded.

“Dismissed” – he said.

“Yes, Sir” – I repeated and started towards the door, but in this very moment we’ve heard a massive thump; the whole ship shivered rapidly making me almost fall off my feet. I looked at Fury.

“It has started…” – I said.

He didn’t waste time to confirm the obvious.

“Deck Officer?” – he yelled to the radio – “What the hell is going on out there??”

“We’ve been attacked, Sir!” – said the voice in a speaker as another, gigantic thump made the whole ship shake uncontrollably – “We have lost engine #3, Iron Man and Captain Rogers are already on it. The attack seems to target the Detention Wing!”

“Loki” – said Fury, stating the obvious.

I didn’t waste time either.

“Phil!” – I yelled to my communicator, while running out Fury’s office towards the Detention Wing – “I need you in Loki’s cell room right away, but don’t do anything until I get there! Repeat, hold your fire until I’m there!”

“What??” – he yelled back in puzzlement.

“Just trust me, I’ll explain later, go!”

Trying to stay on my feet while the deck was jumping like a frightened stallion, I finally got to the elevator and to B-Deck. The pressure door was wide open, so I just run in and faced the mayhem in there. Huge part of the wall was ripped open and a howling wind raged inside; I saw a few menacing silhouettes of Frost Giants wreaking havoc all around.  I looked at the glass cage, but Loki wasn’t there anymore; its new inhabitant stood there confused and pissed off beyond comprehension. Thor. How the hell did he get in there?? Never mind, I’ll get him out in a minute. I kneeled behind a piece of equipment; from this improvised hideout I looked around in search for Loki and there I found him, standing in the middle of this chaos, shouting out orders in this weird, alien language. Calm and focused, he seemed to have everything under control; I looked at him for a moment with a pure pleasure, but then was brought back to reality in a pretty harsh way. One of the Giants approached my hideout, obviously taking me as an easy prey and that was a last mistake of his life. In a split of a second I activated my left hand gun and sent a few rounds into his chest which didn’t seem to have much effect. I didn’t count on that anyway; in a meantime I unpinned my sword from the belt, activated the blade. All I needed was one strike and Giant’s ugly head rolled over on the unstable floor. Without paying any more attention to the corps, I looked back just in time to see Phil running in; right behind him agents Ward and Garret got in; he ordered them into positions and run towards me.

“Are you ok?” – he asked looking with disgust at the dead Giant.

“Yeah, I’m good” – I replied quickly – “Listen, we’ve got to…”

I didn’t finish, as two things have happened almost simultaneously. One of the Frost Giants got to the control board and found the glass cage release button. With an evil grin he lifted his fist; Loki saw it a second too late, he shouted something and threw himself to stop him, but the Giant’s fist has already hit the button and a cage with Thor inside got suddenly released from its grips and fell uncontrollably down, off the ship, leaving a huge hole in the deck. A split of a second later, Phil aimed his gun on Loki still standing by the control board. Instinctively and without even thinking I struck his arm up, causing the bullet hit a nearby metal frame and ricochet over Loki’s head. He turned over surprised, finally saw me and smiled quickly when he understood what has just happened. I looked away and turned to Phil.

“We need to let him go” – I said to him hurriedly – “Fury knows, I’ll explain later; you can take out as many Giants as you can, but leave Loki alone. Come on, tell your guys!!”

Phil looked at me like I have suddenly gone mad, but obediently relayed the order to his team. That was what I valued the most during our long friendship; we trusted each other with our lives and this trust has always come first. Like now.

I nodded in silent acknowledgement and looked around to find Loki again. He was still up there, heading towards the hole in the ship’s wall. Apparently he was looking to make an eye contact with me before he leaves, cause the moment I laid my eyes on him, he stretched out his arm pointing somewhere above my head, to my left. I glanced over there and saw Hawkeye sitting on an upper ramp, hiding with his deadly bow ready. I looked back at Loki and nodded. He’s just fulfilled his promise. “Go!” – I articulated inaudibly.

He nodded too, shouted something to the rest of the Giants which was most likely an order to retreat and stepped over the rim of a hole. Before he disappeared for good, he found a time to look back at me for a short second and then he was gone in a flash.

There was still no time to waste; Hawkeye on the ramp was getting ready to leave, alarmed by obviously being left behind, he started towards the exit of the ramp. I broke into a run towards him; the staircase was closer to me than him, so I managed to get up there before he had a chance to go down.

“Clint, it’s me!” – I yelled over the deafening howl of a wind – “Wake up damn it!”

I stretched my arm forward with an opened, empty hand up, in a calming gesture. As I suspected, it didn’t work though; Hawk lifted his bow and aimed at me. In a split of a second I activated a gun in the hand, I reached out earlier and took just one, very precise shot. The bullet hit Clint’s bow and knocked it out of his hand; while he was still startled, I threw myself at him knocking him down on a solid, metal floor. He hit his head hard, but still remained conscious; it was like this spell or whatever it was, gave him unnatural, inexhaustible supply of energy and strength. I looked straight into his eyes; naturally brown, now they were ice blue. Not like Loki’s eyes, warm and sparkling, but cold and cruel; Clint definitely wasn’t there…

He looked back at me as I was pressing him down to the floor and grabbed my arms in a crushing grip; there wasn’t even any anger in his eyes, nothing, no emotions whatsoever; I was just an obstacle for him that he had to get rid of. He lifted me without any visible effort and stood up, still holding me by my both wrists. Well, he was freakishly strong, but I was athletic and limber. I lifted both legs up and kicked him right in the chest as hard as I could with both feet; he didn’t expect that, lost his balance and fell on his back again, loosening grip on my wrists for a moment. That was enough. I slid out of his grasp, nailed his throat to the floor with a knee; all in a matter of seconds.

“Sorry Clint” – I said and hit him with all I had, instantly knocking him out unconscious.

Agent Ward came running, as I got off Hawk and sat next to him, panting.

“Everything ok?” – he asked, kneeling and checking Clint’s vitals – “That was one hell of a punch…” – he added in astonishment.

“Yeah I’m fine Grant, and thanks” – I got up – “Help me take him down.”

We both lifted still unconscious Clint and started towards the stairs.

Grant Ward was an ex black ops operative; big, masculine and really good looking to be completely fair. There was a time when he tried to let me know that he wouldn’t mind us getting to know each other better, but I turned him down immediately. The wound was way too fresh back then and I actually never felt anything special towards him. The spark just is there or it isn’t, no-one can control that; latest events were an evident example of that…

We got down and carefully laid Hawkeye down; Phil and Garrett came running as soon as we did.

“Is he alright?”- Garrett was genuinely concerned. He was in his late forties just like Phil; they knew each other way back and he was Coulson’s right hand.

“Yeah” – I said – “He’s gonna wake up with a headache, but hopefully he’ll be himself again.”

I brushed my hair off the face and looked around. The room was completely destroyed; the wind kept howling, making all the loose and broken elements of steel frames jingling around. I glanced at the empty space that used to contain glass cage; I hoped Thor was ok…

We heard a muffed muttering coming from the floor and looked down. Hawkeye has just awakened; he held his head with a very unhappy expression.

“What the hell has just happened?” – he asked with confusion and anger.

“Hey…” –I kneeled beside him – “How are you doing? Are you… umm, you?”

I looked into his eyes and to my great relief I saw that they were brown again, as usual. The spell, or whatever it was, was gone.

“My head hurts!” – he complained and affixed an accusing gaze at me.

“How did you know it was me??” – I spread my arms, surprised.

“Lucky guess, I think… Well, I should rather thank you I suppose…”

“Anytime, Hawk” – I smiled – “Anytime…”

I helped him up and only then he finally looked around.

“Holly shit…” – he whistled in astonishment.

“Yeah…

“Deck Officer?” – Phil contacted the bridge in a meantime – “What’s the status?”

He listened to the report for a while and then nodded.

“Ok, do it” – he said and terminated the connection.

“Damaged engine is more or less operational” – he addressed us – “Enough to keep us in the air a little bit longer, but it needs a serious repair. Not to mention this” – he pointed at the hole – “We are heading to The Hub for repairs; the course is being changed as we speak. There’s one more thing…” – he paused.

“Why do I think it’s not gonna be good?” – Garret smirked.

“Because it’s not. The incident has made Dr. Banner angry… if you know what I mean…”

We knew.

“How bad?” – I asked.

“A hole similar to this one, but unfortunately Hulk used it as an exit door. We have no idea where he is…”

“Damn, now we’re missing two” – sighed Ward.

“Thor will be fine” – I replied – “He is a big boy, he’ll find us. It’s Bruce I’m worried about…”

“We’ll find him” – Phil ended a discussion – “Like I said, we’re heading to The Hub, get ready, ETA: 50 min.”

“And we” – he leaned towards me and lowered his voice – “Need to talk right now!”

“We definitely do” – I nodded and pulled him gently by the arm towards the hall – “Come on, there’s a lot you need to know…”


	8. Chapter 8

We were walking through the hall, trying to ignore omnipresent, lined with a little panic chaos around us, as I explained the whole plan to Phil. When I finished, he looked at me like I was a complete nutcase.

“You are insane” – he stated authoritatively – “You and Fury both.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures, Phil” – I sighed – “Besides, it’s not as risky as it seems. Say what you want, but so far Loki has proven a lot of what he says was true. And if it comes to worst, I can handle him. I think…”

“Him, maybe” – Phil replied – “But what about Frost Giants…”

“I’ll be fine. Remember that we have a chance to prevent the invasion; that is good enough reason for me to take any kind of risk.”

Phil nodded.

“Fine” – he said – “But I’d feel a whole lot better if there was a support team waiting nearby.”

“Out of question” – I said firmly – “First of all, Loki trusts me for some reason and I don’t want him to stop. Secondly, this operation has a top secret marker, level 9 and up only; Fury’s orders. I’m going alone, Phil.”

Phil shook his head in resignation.

“I don’t like it, but there’s no other way I guess. When are you going there?”

“As soon as I can” – I looked at the time – “We still have a good half an hour before we get to The Hub; who do we have there who can prepare equipment for me? I’m gonna need a pretty sophisticated gadget…”

“Leo Fitz” – said Phil without hesitation – “He’s a total geek and an absolute genius. What do you need?”  
“Something that will make my eyes look blue, disguise of some sort I guess, but it has to be a state of the art thing” –

I said and immediately laughed at Phil’s confused expression – “Not for fun, believe me! The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent can’t show up there without any signs of being mind- controlled, like Hawk was.”

”Who’s gonna know you’re an agent?”

“Well, for one I’m gonna need my gear, plus I may bump into Selvig.”

“True. Ok.” – Phil took out his communicator.

“Wait” – I raised my hand – “This Fitz can’t know any details.”

“Of course, he won’t ask any questions. This kid knows the drill.”

“Kid…?”

“You’ll see” – Phil smiled and requested a secured connection to The Hub’s science division.

“Go get ready” – he said while waiting – “I’ll order your gadget.”

I nodded and started to go towards the personal cabin deck.

“Hayne?”

“Yes?” – I stopped and turned around.

“Be careful” – said Phil seriously – “After all, Loki doesn’t have the best reputation…”

I smiled at him.

“I will, don’t worry; I’m a big girl…”

He smiled back and started talking to the communicator.

I left towards my cabin for some quick preparations; I had to be ready to leave as soon as we reach The Hub and I get my device, so I had no time to waste. There was another reason why I wanted to leave as soon as possible, though; as much as I refused to admit it to myself openly, I simply couldn’t wait to see Loki again…

 ***

Our Helicarrier docked in The Hub’s enormously huge hangar exactly 6 minutes after I was ready and out of my cabin. I got off and immediately started towards the science division wing. It was nice to be here after quite a long time of being constantly on the Helicarrier or a mission. The Hub was exactly what its name suggested: it was a heart and a core of S.H.I.E.L.D. Located conveniently at West Coast close to New York, the building itself, made of glass and aluminum, stood proudly up to 49 stories, which were housing all administration, science, research and medical and many other departments including the organization leadership themselves. Almost the same number of stories was hidden underground and that’s where the actual S.H.I.E.L.D. resided. Right here, deep under the surface, all top secret research was held; massive vaults were guarding unimaginable artifacts, that were destined to stay hidden forever – or at least until humanity becomes responsible enough to put them into a good use. This meant in a very, very long time, if at all. I was heading to this underground, restricted area. After a very detailed scan check and confirming my clearance level a few times along the way, I was finally let into the elevator, which brought me down to the 5th level where the science division was supposed to operate. Underground levels looked nothing like light, transparent and glassy upper ones; down here everything was lined with titanium metal plates and the only glass elements, like partition walls, were made of bullet proof, triple reinforced thick glass. With S.H.I.E.L.D. logos placed everywhere, the whole thing looked like an army bunker; well, in a way that’s exactly what it was.

I quickly found a science division.  
I was of course used to high tech equipment that we had at our disposal on a daily basis, but what I saw behind the door in the science lab, got me stunned. Virtual reality interfaces were open and projecting all over the place, processing some unimaginably complicated data; hundreds of weird looking devices were scattered all over; I didn’t even try to guess what they were. The only familiar piece of equipment was a microscope, operated by a young woman that I didn’t know. She raised her head above the ocular, looked at me and smiled as if she was genuinely glad to see me. Maybe she was…

“Hi!” – she said – “You must be agent Davenport, right?”

I confirmed with a gesture, but didn’t even get to say anything, because she kept talking.

“It’s so nice to have visitors here; see, we don’t get many people stopping by, this area is so restricted, that… Oh my gosh” – she finally stopped, realizing she talks way too much – “I’m so sorry…”

She left her spot by the microscope and walked towards me with her hand reached out in a welcoming gesture - “I’m Jemma Simmons, bio-chemist.”

“Hi Jemma” – I shook her hand – “It’s nice to meet you. I’m looking for Leo Fitz?”

“Oh, yeah, Leo will be right here!”

I looked at her with a bit of an amusement; she was very young, not older than 20 or 21, pretty with this fresh, blossoming beauty of a young girl and she was obviously very excited to meet a high ranked officer.

“Relax, Jemma” – I gently patted her arm to calm her down – “Don’t mind me, I’ll be out of your hair in a moment.”

She smiled nervously and went back to her workstation, trying to get back to work.

“You must be agent Davenport?” – I heard a man’s voice behind me.

I turned around and saw a guy coming into the room. He was about the same age as Jemma, blond, very serious, very geeky and very British.

“Leo Fitz, right?” – I said.

He nodded and firmly shook my hand.

“It’s good to meet you, agent” – he said – “I have your device ready. Here…” - he took something from the box he was carrying – “A small plug to standard issue head communicator. You just need to clip it on and it will create a hologram changing your eye color. Try it on.”

I took the plug from him and put in on my headset, the way he instructed me to.

“It’s nice and small” – I commented with acknowledgement – “I like it. Do you have a mirror here?”

“Yes… I got it… right here…” - Simmons hurriedly went through her pockets and fished out a small compact mirror – “There…”

“Thanks” – I turned the plug on and look at my reflection. The effect was way better than I expected; in a second my naturally dark brown eyes lightened up and became clear blue.

“Amazing” – I said – “But I need a small color adjustment; this blue has to be amm… I don’t know… colder?”- I took off the headset.

“Ok” – Fitz reached out for the plug, worked with it for a moment with some tiny tools and gave it back to me.

“How about now?”

I tried it on again.

“Now it’s perfect” – I said, admiring the new, ice cold blue color of my eyes – “Coulson was right, you are a genius, Fitz. Thank you.”

“My pleasure, agent Davenport” – this time he smiled a little bit, obviously glad with an acknowledgement.

I nodded and started towards the door.

“It was nice to meet you guys, keep up the good work!” – I smiled and left in a hurry.

Well, I must have admitted, I was impressed. S.H.I.E.L.D. was betting on young, ingenious minds and after meeting these two, I had to agree that it was a very good direction to follow.

I turned my communicator in, while walking at a fast pace through the Hub’s halls.

“Phil? I got it. That kid _is_ a genius, you were right” – I laughed quickly and became serious again – “What’s the situation over there?”

“Yeah, Helicarrier is being repaired as we speak; Tony and Capitan Rogers are back with us; by the way we really owe these guys for what they did to keep us in the air. There’s still no sign of either Thor or Dr. Banner though….”

“I really hope they’re alright…” – I sighed.

“I’m sure they are” – Phil’s voice was as usual steady and reassuring – “What’s your schedule?”

I just got out of the restricted area and walked through the large hall of a main building.

“I’m heading back to Helicarrier” – I said – “I wanna get going as soon as I can.”

“Alright. Make sure you see me before you go.”

“You got it. See you later.” – I terminated the connection and started towards the underground hangar.

It turned out that I didn’t even have to look for Phil; I bumped into him immediately after I got on board of the ship. He was actually waiting for me by the entrance, impatiently walking back and forth.

“Phil?” – I said with concern, running up the ramp inside the ship – “Everything ok?”

“Yes, I just need to go over a few things with you before you leave” – he said as we started to walk through the entrance hall inside the ship – “I know you don’t want any backup, but let’s just agree on one thing: if there’s any kind of a danger, if something goes wrong, I want you to forget the whole thing and back out” – I opened my mouth to say something but he silenced me raising his hand.

“We’re not talking about a standard mission here” – he continued – “You are up against aliens over there and I’m not talking only about Frost Giants. Loki is my main concern Hayne; I don’t trust him. I want you to contact me as soon as you think something isn’t right and I’ll get you out, do you understand me?”

I slowed down and stopped completely. He stopped too, looking at me curiously.

“Look” – I put my hand on his arm in a friendly gesture – “Phil, you are the best friend anybody could ask for and I really appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine. I will do what you ask, of course, but I don’t want you to worry. I’m a big girl, remember?”

“Fine” – he said hesitantly – “I know this mission may prove the most important to date, but I just don’t want to lose a friend over it.”

“You won’t” – I assured him – “Besides; you may find it reckless, but I actually _do_ trust Loki at this point. At least within a reason…”

“Well, I hope your instinct is still serving you well…” – he sighed.

We resumed walking and soon got to the Helicarrier’s air fleet hangar.

“Now you be careful” – said Phil as I was mounting my bike and getting ready to go.

“I will” – I said activating my headpiece.

Phil took a few steps back, as I fired up my engines. The bike started to transform into a flying vehicle and was ready for flight in a few seconds. I hit the gas as soon as glass covers slid closed above my head and I was on my way to the rendezvous point.

 


	9. Chapter 9

I arrived at the exact location provided by Loki in less than 20 minutes. It turned out to be a secluded place surrounded by trees and in the middle of nowhere, with a rocky hill not far from my landing spot. It was already almost twilight and the whole place started to look a little creepy in the last, weak light of the dying day. I got off the bike, let it go back to its basic form, deactivated my helmet and looked around. Not a living soul; only birds chirping here and there…

“Ok, where are you…” – I said to myself with a sigh.

“I must say, it is a great relief to see you have come…” – I flinched and turned around, only to find Loki standing right behind me. Tall, magnetically appealing and only inches away, instantly made my heart beat faster.

“Don’t do that again” – I said, hoping I didn’t blush or anything.

“My apologies…” – he smiled, still looking at me with this vigorous spark in his eyes. I had to look away.

“So, you weren’t sure I’d come?” – I said – “Back there in the cell, you seemed pretty damn certain that I would…”

“Well, I did my best to convince you” – he replied softly – “But you are so wonderfully unpredictable, strong and impossible to influence or control” – he smiled briefly – “This makes you who you are and I would not wish you any other way…”

I looked back at him, surprised. That was _the_ most honest, delicate and considerate complement I’ve heard in years… For a second or two I got lost again in his beautiful eyes and a gentle smile…

“Thank you, I guess…” – I replied quietly, attempting to snap out of this blissful, warm sensation that Loki’s close presence made me always feel.

“So, what’s the plan?” – I asked, focusing back on the mission.

“See that hill over there?” – he looked away and pointed to the rocky peak nearby – “We’re going inside. Once we’re there, we need to get to the main vault, acquire the crystal and get out alive. As simple as that.”

“As simple as that…” - I replied, sighing – “Ok, let’s do it.”

I opened my communication and control module and set the stealth mode for my bike on. In a matter of seconds sophisticated mechanism activated itself and the vehicle slowly disappeared right before our eyes, perfectly hidden from unauthorized views. I put the device back on my belt, zipped leather jacket up and looked at Loki; he stood close by casually leaning against a tree and glancing at me with this gentle and innocent expression on his face and a little smile. It was a beautiful, but disturbing view; mostly because it immediately threw me out of focus.

“What is so funny?” – I asked, raising my eyebrow.

He laughed quietly.

“Nothing, I’m enjoying the moment…”

I looked at him in disbelief.

“We are going right into Frost Giants’ nest, it’s quite possible we won’t make it back alive yet you are enjoying the moment…?”

Still smiling, he looked down for a moment, left the tree alone, walked towards me and looked back at me again.

“We are here” – he said – “Together, as partners on the same mission. I know it was difficult for you, but you took that leap of faith, I asked you for and you came here. You began to trust me and that’s what I enjoy…”

I looked up, straight into his beautiful and sparkling blue eyes; the warmth of his gaze and this gentle smile on his lips was almost too much to bear…

“Well” – I finally replied – “Don’t make me regret it…”

He instantly became serious, leaned closely over me and gently rested his hand on my shoulder.

“I won’t” – he said earnestly with this deep, velvet voice – “You have my word…”

I hesitated with a reply for a moment, mostly because I didn’t want him to back off and take his hand away, but eventually I had to say something.

“Good…” – I said at last.

He nodded and briefly squeezed my shoulder before he removed his hand.

“Let’s go” – he said and started towards the hill – “Follow me.”

I watched him walk away for a few seconds; I could still feel his touch on my shoulder and my heartbeat rate was far from normal. Whether I liked it or not, I was getting dangerously close to the point of no return… I sighed and followed him through the woods.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been a while - I'm sorry for the break ;-)

It took us good 10 minutes to get to the foot of a rocky pick that hid the Giants’ lair. Once there, Loki quickly scanned seemingly solid rock, found a small, innocently looking split and stopped by it.

“It’s an entrance” – he said lowering his voice – “Now listen, you need to look confident; like this place is familiar to you, pretend you’re mind controlled for as long as you can. Keep your head down, your eyes may give you away…”

I stopped him with a gesture and turned on the plug I got from Fitz. Loki looked at me stunned.

“You _are_ prepared” – he said with a genuine esteem – “But then again, I shouldn’t be surprised… Anyway, once we’re inside, just follow me to the vaults chamber; if we’re lucky we might even be able to open it and get what we need fairly unnoticed.”

“Fairly unnoticed…?” – I repeated with a grin – “Sounds great. Shall we?”

“Let’s go” – he nodded and dived into the split.

I followed him through the passage; the opening was very narrow at first, but then after several feet it suddenly opened into a huge, well-lit cave. It seemed to be a natural creation, only ingeniously adapted to become an efficient hideout. As we were walking side by side, I discreetly observed the surroundings; chamber we were in now seemed to be a kind of storage or a warehouse, I saw military metal chests that almost definitely contained weapons; wooden boxes also with military markings and tons of other equipment of a combat purpose. We passed through the storage and soon entered what appeared to be a main alien base; suddenly we were surrounded by dozens of people, some of them had to be mind-controlled judging by the ice blue color of their eyes, but vast majority weren’t. It was really sad to see how many mercenaries and regular, common scum was willing to sacrifice their own world, own kind and freedom in exchange for whatever they were promised in return for their services and what most likely they will not even end up getting… The main chamber was filled with sophisticated equipment operated by blue eyed scientists, focused and stripped of any emotions. Among this whole crowd, here and there I saw towering silhouettes of Frost Giants overlooking the whole operation. I discretely looked up at Loki walking right beside me; in a place like this - all other reasons aside, I was really glad to have him here by my side… He caught my gaze and quickly smiled.

“Don’t worry, I’m right here” – he said reassuringly.

I shook my head.

“No” – I said – “It’s not that. Well, good to know, but it’s not what I meant… Just up until now I had no idea what are we really up against…” - I continued when he raised his eyebrow in an inaudible question – “Nobody did…”

“I know, but you have an ace up your sleeve now” – he said leaning a down to me – “You have me…”

Ambiguity of this statement was more than clear; especially when he briefly looked at me with this charming and playful smile of his, which I had less and less power to resist to… I looked away; didn’t need more distraction.

“Stay in character” – I reminded him.

He chuckled quietly.

“Yes ma’am…”

We kept walking through the base so far not interrupted; a few men greeted Loki with a respectful nod but that was all.  I started to feel more secure; it seemed like my holo-gadget was doing a good job and nobody suspected a thing; even Frost Giants who walked right pass me didn’t seem to notice anything, but then again, I wasn’t something that they would even pay too much attention to; they only gazed briefly at Loki, who ignored them completely. From the expression on his face I could clearly see that these creatures simply disgusted him. I bet they could see that too.

“We’re close to the vaults now – said Loki quietly – Once we’re there I will give you a code combination that we need to enter and confirm both at the same time to get the vault open.”

“Is it guarded?”

“Not really. It’s not like anybody is expecting someone to just come in and rob it…” – he winked at me quickly – “But we still may need a distraction. We’ll see…”

“Distraction?” – I looked up at him – “What do you have in mind?”

“I’m not sure yet…”

We were now getting through the busiest part of the base, so it seemed; not far to our right there was a big glass containment chamber with loads of complicated equipment and a single man inside. As we walked pass it, he suddenly turned around and waived at us enthusiastically. To my surprise, in this unshaved and a little mad-looking man I recognized Dr. Eric Selvig…

“Sir!” – he called out to Loki – “Please, a moment!”

I was walking by Loki’s left so Selvig didn’t see me yet, but it looked like there was no avoiding of that…

“He will recognize me, but I guess there’s no choice… Damn…” - I said.

“I guess there isn’t” – Loki agreed turning right, towards the containment chamber – “Keep it low and _stay in character_ …” – he added, deliberately using the same phrasing as I did before.

I sighed and followed him, keeping my distance about a step behind him. Dr. Selvig stood right in front of the glass, impatiently waiting for Loki to come closer. He looked at him with an immense admiration, almost as if Loki was a divine personification walking down the earth. Well, in a way he was…

“This is truly wonderful!” – he said with exaltation as soon as we got to him – “The Tesseract has shown me so much, it’s more than knowledge; it’s truth…!”

Loki smiled to him with sympathy.

“I know” – he said – “It, ahmm… it touches everyone differently.”

“Oh, it certainly does, Sir…” - replied Selvig and only now he finally saw me, standing behind Loki’s back.

“Agent Davenport!” – he exclaimed with excitement – “It’s wonderful to see you here, I’m so glad that you were too able to finally see the ultimate truth…!”

“So am I, Eric…”. – I said cautiously, greeting him with a nod.

A few heads turned towards me, a few pairs of eyes looked at me closely, but nothing other than that happened. My holo-disguise was still doing its job well.

“What’s the progress on the portal, Doctor?” – asked Loki in a meantime.

“I’m almost done, Sir. Method of stabilizing Tesseract with iridium is now proven in theory; what I need now is a few tests. For that, I’m gonna need some gravitonium to start the cube.”

“Excellent!” – Loki looked genuinely pleased with what he heard – “We’re heading to the vaults anyway, agent Davenport will bring you some on the way back.”

“Thank you…” – Selvig nodded with respect and smiled to me, excited and impatient to go on with his work.

“I’ll see you soon, Eric” – I said and followed Loki who has already moved on. He waited for me a moment to catch up with him.

“We don’t have much time” – he said as we paced quickly towards the vaults chamber – “Your friend is almost done here…”

“Looks that way” – I said and then continued after a short pause – “It’s so sad to see him like this… I mean, this mind control thing affects everyone differently I guess; it looks like somehow it brings out what one is best at, but takes away all the morals…”

“What do you mean?” – Loki looked at me curiously.

“Well, when Hawkeye was mind-controlled, he was nothing else but a perfect killing machine; that is what he is best at; he is a trained assassin… Now Eric is just happy to explore the unknown; that’s what he has always pursued. He’s totally oblivious to what cause he is helping, but again he is at his best performance now…”

“Soon he will be free too” – Loki assured me – “Is your agent Barton ok, by the way?”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t like you very much…”

Loki laughed quickly.

“None of _them_ do I guess” – he said.

I was aware of a very subtle suggestion in this statement.

“Well” – I replied – “You _do_ need some getting used to…”

He understood me and again this irresistible, heartwarming smile appeared on his lips for a moment when he looked down at me.

“This eye color doesn’t suit you at all…” – he said changing subject.

“I know and frankly speaking, this hollo starts to impair my vision. The sooner we’re done here the better.”

Loki thought about something for a minute and then he turned to me.

“You said that mind control brings out the strongest skills, but blurs the morals…” - he started – “How do you think it would affect you; what are you best at?”

I looked up at him, surprised with complexity of this question.

“I don’t know and I don’t wanna know” – I finally replied – “But I’m afraid I’d become rather more like Barton than Eric…”

He looked at me attentively, narrowing his eyes.

“You’re not an assassin, are you?” – he said finally.

“No, but I was very well trained and I’m exceptionally good at what I’m doing…”

Loki slowly nodded in agreement.

“So, I’ve noticed…” – he said at last.

We have at last passed through full of equipment stone corridors and got to more secluded part of the base; as we stopped I looked at another small cave, inside which there was a door made of very heavy and durable looking metal; sophisticated electronic lock was sitting on it, along with two separate terminals situated on both sides of the door.

The vault chambers.

“Moment of truth…” – I whispered.

“Yeah” - Loki turned around to make sure we were alone – “Now, go to the other terminal over there and press exact same keys as me and at the same time as me.”

“Ok…” - I stood by the terminal on the left side of the door and one look at it gave me an instant headache. The front panel contained of total 16 buttons; I expected numbers or letters on them, but no – that would be too easy… Instead, each button was marked with a complicated symbol that reminded me of an Egyptian hieroglyph, or something like this; each symbol was insanely complicated and each one of them was off course different… I looked at Loki with a big question mark in my eyes.

“Is this written in Asgardian?” – I asked.

“Yes, and it’s much less complicated than it looks… Now, I’m gonna give you a position of each key we need to press in a sequence. Ready?”

“Yeah” – I sighed – “Let’s do it and get out of here…”

“First one: top row, second to the right. Pressing NOW…”

I found the right key and pushed it, making sure I’m doing it the same time as Loki. The whole code consisted of 8 symbols and we went through them fairly quickly. At the end we both pressed the biggest keys underneath the terminal, which apparently served as a confirmation button, because as soon as we did it, big and heavy door rumbled and started to open slowly. So far so good…. but not exactly. Suddenly I heard a suspicious noise behind us; I turned around just to see one of the mercenaries standing a few steps away and looking curiously inside the cave. He just stood there, in a relaxed position with his hand casually rested on a machine gun, watching. Last thing we needed now was a nosey thug…

“Move along, soldier!” – my voice was firm and somewhat harsh.

Mercenary hesitated; Loki, who must have not heard him before, turned around now and looked at the man without a word. He didn’t have to say anything; his features sharpened and eyes started to glow green; all that combined with tall and intimidating posture was more than enough to make the mercenary back off. He raised his hand in conciliatory gesture and left hurriedly.

Loki turned to me; still menacing and with these unbelievably green and glowing eyes, he looked fierce and truly otherworldly, but oddly beautiful at the same time… He closed his eyes and shook his head; when he looked at me again, the vicious mask was gone and his eyes became normal again.

“I’m sorry” – he said softly with an apologetic tone – “I didn’t mean to…”

“You didn’t…” – I cut in quickly – “That was impressive…” – I added with a hint of admiration that slipped out involuntarily.

He raised an eyebrow in disbelieve.

“You never cease to amaze me…” – he said with a brief, warm smile.

“Likewise, …” – I smiled back at him quickly – “Come on, let’s get what we came here for; looks like we don’t have much time…”

He nodded, finally looked away and stopped distracting me and started inside the vault. I went in right behind him; the vault was way bigger than I anticipated judging from outside; it had numerous safe-deposit boxes lined neatly along two opposite walls. I briefly wandered what horrifying secrets each of them held… No time for that now; once the Chitauri Army is defeated, S.H.I.E.L.D. will definitely come back here… I watched Loki approaching the wall; he knew exactly what he was doing when he picked a particular box slot and opened it using a smaller version of the terminal attached right on the box. Each of them had separate locking mechanism. In a few seconds the box was opened and Loki handed me something small enough to fit into a palm of a hand; it was wrapped in a raw, thick piece of fabric.

“That’s it…?” – a hint of disappointment must have been heard in my voice, because Loki laughed quietly.

“Yes, that’s it” – he said – “Believe me, it’s more than enough to close the portal…”

I unwrapped the fabric and took a quick pick inside - what I had in my hand was an irregular piece of frosted, mat crystal; it was about the size of a big chicken egg and had a difficult to define, weird color; something between pearl, yellow and maybe a hint of silver… It was strangely beautiful and powerful at the same time; I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

“Like you said: we don’t have much time…” – Loki’s deep voice brought me back to reality. He stood right in front of me; covered the crystal with a rug, took my hand and put it over the package, for a brief moment holding my hands in his. His touch was firm, warm and soothing; I looked up into his eyes and for a second there I forgot where we were and simply let myself enjoy the moment… But he was right, we had to move. I nodded.

“Let’s go” – I said.

He hesitantly removed his hands and backed off to close the deposit box he took the crystal from. In a meantime I wrapped the priceless stone tighter and put it safely in my pocket inside the jacket; zipped up, it was perfectly safe now. I duly noted seemingly casual fact that Loki handed the stone to me instead of keeping it with him, this way again making sure that there are no doubts as for what his intentions and priorities are. He was very aware of the fact, that he was still treading on a thin ice here and was doing everything to ensure he is correctly understood.

Once everything was properly locked and left without a trace of invasion, we stepped out of the vault and Loki locked it thoroughly as well; now the only thing left was to get out of this wasp nest safely and as fast as possible…

“We need to find a different way” – I said – “I don’t want to bump into Eric again and explain why I didn’t bring him that thing I was supposed to…”

“Gravitonium, yes” – he said – “There’s another way we can sneak out through. Come on!”

He led the way through the much narrower corridor to the right; there were still some locals passing by but way less that on our way in. We kept moving, side by side; hurriedly but at a steady pace that wouldn’t indicate how much in a hurry we actually were. I briefly looked up at Loki; his features sharpened and darkened, he looked like a big, pissed off wild crow, successfully discouraging any direct contact with us. And that was the point. We walked like that for a few good minutes, uninterrupted; with each step bringing us closer to the exit, I timidly started to let in the idea that we may actually be able to accomplish the mission with minimal risk… I shouldn’t have done that. Not just yet. The hall we walked through was in connection with other corridors and all of the sudden out of one of them there came three individuals; two men and a Frost Giant. They stood firmly in front of us, blocking the way; I recognized the mercenary for the Vault in one of them. Damn. We stopped. Still with this menacing look, Loki pointed into the Frost Giant and said something loudly and furiously in that strange, hissing language. The Giant replied the same way; gesturing angrily, he demanded something from Loki. Situation thickened within seconds; Giant walked a few steps toward us and stood inches away in front of Loki, towering above him; I could see with a vivid detail of his huge posture, rugged bluish skin and blood-red eyes. Loki looked at him, narrowing his eyes and said something that sounded like the last warning to leave us alone. Giant’s lips moved, unveiling sharp, uneven, yellow teeth in a parody of a smile… It definitely wasn’t going well… Loki sighed, turned to me with a bitter grin and brief shrug of shoulders and I knew what was coming next… I didn’t have a chance to react though, cause in a split of a second, before anybody had a chance to do anything, Loki attacked with a speed of a rattle snake; he stabbed the Giant in the neck with his small handy dagger, retracted it and taking advantage of this surprise attack, straightened out his left arm, palm of his hand outwards and let the condensed stream of green glowing energy out, directly into Giant’s chest. All that happened within seconds; for a brief moment I allowed myself to be genuinely stunned at Loki’s abilities… on top of everything he could also do magic?? But I didn’t have time to dwell on it now; before struck by the energy beam Giant even touched the floor, I released both my guns and aimed at his two human companions. Two quick and precise shots eliminated them from the game within a second. We were alone now, but shooting must have already alarmed the others, we had to get the hell out of there, and fast.

“So much for _fairly unnoticed_ …” - I mumbled, quickly deactivating my holo disguise. It was about time to do it anyway, as it has started to seriously bother me and compromise my vision. I turned it off, took out and threw away.

“Now, that’s much better…” – I heard Loki’s voice right above me; he smiled quickly but became serious again in a flash – “Now we got to run...!”

He didn’t have to say it twice; we started towards the exit, through the labyrinth of corridors; Loki knew the way, without hesitation choosing correct turns but even though we moved fast, the noise of obviously alarmed troops was getting closer and closer and was coming not only from behind us, indicating that we are slowly getting surrounded… That didn’t look good at all…

“It might be a good time to use your magic thing!” – I yelled out looking behind – “And you didn’t tell me _you can do magic_ for Christ’s sake!!” -  I added with anger and accusation.

“You didn’t ask, my dear…” - he responded innocently, disarming me immediately.

“Oh, you _are_ impossible…” – I shook my head.

From the sound of it, it looked like the whole base garrison was after us; it wasn’t long before first troops started to catch up, forcing us stop and face the inevitable fight. Without hesitation Loki unleashed his deadly energy beam that took care of a few mercenaries at the same time but more of them started to pour out of the side corridor; I released my guns and put them to work. My technique wasn’t just limited to regular shooting skill; I was trained by one of the few Masters of Gun Kata that were still left. This specific gun combat style was based on an inner peace philosophy; a gun and a shooter were becoming one; acting on perfectly trained instinct and in perfect harmony. It took me years to master this technique, but once I finally achieved my Master’s approval, I became a deadly opponent. In a fraction of a second I focused on the task and let the instinct take over. My arms moved from target to target with a deadly speed and accuracy; minimal movements, perfect precision. Our combined efforts soon cleared out the hall and let us move forward, which we didn’t hesitate to do immediately.

“You’re good…!” – said Loki with a genuine respect while we were running through the stone passageways.

“I told you! “– I smiled quickly.

I heard something behind us, a trace of a suspicious sound that I was able to pick up only by being in that highly alerted state which I was always in when utilizing Gun Kata methods. I stopped rapidly with a slide on a rocky ground and turned back; all in one, smooth movement. My gun was already aimed and ready a second before the mercenary actually walked out of the side hall, only to be quickly eliminated by a single shot. But that was a small victory; more troops kept approaching, this time accompanied with Frost Giants. They were closing in on us, coming from both ends of the hall, effectively cutting off every way out. Instinctively and as naturally as if we were used to it on a daily basis, we immediately stood back to back, covering each other’s rear.  A few precise rounds and energy strikes cleared up the hall a little, but we couldn’t stay like this forever, especially that some of the attackers were actually moving forward, obviously striving towards direct combat that would allow them to avoid our deadly weapons. Or so they thought. Enemies kept closing on us and the time for direct combat has come. Only now, I finally saw how skilled fighter Loki in fact was; with daggers in both hands he threw himself on attackers, slashing his way through. His moves were unpredictable, he was quick as a snake; none of the mercenaries could keep up with him and were falling victims one by one. I didn’t have much time to admire this view though; I had my own back to worry about. My guns weren’t that effective in close encounters, so I grabbed my sword and released the blade in a second. There was a certain beauty and elegance to using a samurai sword in a battle; highly focused and alerted just as when using guns, I threw myself within the enemies. Hawkeye once said watching me practice, that this fighting technique looks like oddly beautiful, deadly ballet. It was true. With smooth, fluent moves, often throwing the sword from one hand to another for convenience and opponent’s deception, I easily cut my way through the attackers, making them regret they haven’t rather stayed outside my blade’s range. In the heat of the battle, I caught a few glimpses of Loki; it was a real pleasure watching him fight; focused, with this vicious grin, long black hair in disarray and slightly glowing eyes, he looked intimidating and actually scary. But not to me… I could watch him all day, but instead I quickly concentrated on the battle again; one of the mercenaries figured out it might be safer to not to come too close to me; he saw me carrying a sword in my right hand and took his chance on taking me down with his gun. Split of a second later he already knew that my aim is equally good in both hands when he fell heavily on the ground with a bullet in his chest, shot by my left-hand gun. I turned my back on him and faced another one approaching me with a huge combat machete in his hand. Wild smile he had on his face while swinging this monster to slash me down, quickly faded when my razor-sharp blade cut his arm off as easily as if it was a mere, dry stick. Complete astonishment didn’t yet give a way to excruciating pain, when I effortlessly threw the sword back to my right hand and sunk it into his chest. He died before he hit the ground; silently, with the expression of an outmost surprise stuck on his face. There was no one around at the moment, so I disabled my sword, fastened it back to the belt and looked around searching for Loki. He was close, a few steps away just finishing off the last attacker; he turned back to me breathing heavily.

“Are you ok?” – he asked.

I nodded.

“Good” – he grabbed my hand and pulled me with him, running towards one of the smaller side halls.

“Do you know where we’re going?” – I asked running.

“No. We’ll worry about that later, now we have to hide…”

After a few minutes we could finally slow down; it looked like we are not being pursued – at least at the moment… The rocky passageway was tight and dim; it must have been an older, less used corridor which worked perfectly to our advantage at the moment. Once we stopped running Loki let go of my hand and turned back, checking the way behind us. It was still clear.

“Looks like we have a moment now…” – I said, listening for any suspicious noises. Silence.

Loki nodded.

“Now we should start working on our way out….” – he said with a grin – “I have no idea where we are….”

“Leave it to me” – I said – “I can scan the place and find the exit…”

He looked at me with amused curiosity that gave him this boyish charm expression that I loved so much.

“Is there anything _you can’t_ do?” – he asked with a smile. His eyes brightened again as they always did when he looked at me. I guess he might have found the same warmth in my gaze this time, but I didn’t care any longer. I was tired of hiding it and frankly speaking, I didn’t want to anymore…

“Yeah, one thing” – I replied with a sigh – “Apparently I can’t stay out of trouble…”

He laughed quietly but smile disappeared from his face immediately when he looked behind me. I turned around just in time to see a Frost Giant appearing out of nowhere and heading right on us; he was carrying a scepter, much like Loki’s and was closing on us fast. Everything happened at the same time; I instinctively released my guns, but didn’t have a chance to fire a single shot. Suddenly I felt something grabbing me by the jacket and with tremendous force pushing me way back, out of Giant’s range; I had to almost kneel and use my left hand as a break while balancing with the right arm, to stay on my feet while sliding backwards through the rocky floor until I finally lost the momentum and could stop. I looked up and then realized that it was Loki, who pulled me out of the danger zone; he stepped up and took the entire strength of the attack on himself. I also noticed that this Frost Giant was one of these bigger ones; like a different breed, or something… Doesn’t matter, I wasn’t gonna leave Loki to fight this thing alone. I released my guns again and aimed for creature’s head, but that wasn’t easy… Two highly skilled warriors clashed in the battle, their movements were fast and unpredictable, making taking a clear shot almost impossible… Quick as a snake, using his daggers Loki was trying to break Giant’s defense that he kept with his scepter. Metal was clanging against metal and sparks stroke all around each time their weapons violently met. For a second there I actually stopped and again admired the view of Loki fighting; his moves were quick, precise and well-balanced; I could also swear that I saw a smirk of satisfaction on his face when he was wielding his daggers with a skill of a master. I moved aside, trying to get a right angle for a shot; finally, they stopped for a moment stepping aside and assessing their positions and that was my chance. I aimed again, but before I had a chance to fire, Giant attacked Loki with his scepter; a stream of pure energy beamed out of the weapon, dangerously close to Loki. He dodged it seemingly and answered with his green rays hitting the Giant in the chest, but they didn’t seem to do much damage. At this point I engaged my weapons and concentrated a massive fire on the creature causing it to back off a little; with a help of another powerful stream of Loki’s energy rays, we managed to make the Giant back off even more; the problem was though that seemingly no matter how much fire power was used, it didn’t actually hurt the creature, not even multiple shots I sent straight into its head seemed to have any kind of effect on it… Loki kept his energy beam coming out constantly keeping the Giant in a certain distance, but one look at his face told me he won’t last much longer; he was exhausted and visibly in pain… I made the decision in a split of the second. I took one last precise shot straight into Giant’s wrist, making him drop the scepter; in the next moment I deactivated my guns and threw myself towards him, sliding on my hip, fast, legs forward; I released my sword’s blade and with the weapon ready I kept sliding until I reached the desired point. I had everything calculated to the last detail; once I got close enough, I sunk the sword into Giant’s stomach with all the strength I had. I knew that it wouldn’t do the trick, so I retracted the blade quickly enough to finish my long slide behind the Giant and with a weapon still in my hand. These few seconds when he stood there surprised rather than hurt, were all I needed. I got back on my feet and while he was turning back to me I quickly sunk the sword into his neck this time which seemed to cause much more harm. Not leaving him any time to think or defend himself, I pulled the blade out and with the classic spin all the way around my axis that allowed me to gain much more momentum and strength to the cut, I swung the sword one last time. Frost Giant looked straight into my eyes with his gaze gradually fading; seconds later his head slowly slipped off his shoulders and fell heavily on the ground with that awful sound of bone cracking against the rock. Headless body fell down a few seconds later; limp and lifeless like a pile of rotten meat. All that happened while I was still standing in the end position after my deadly attack; knees lowered, left arm thrown forward for a balance and the sword in the right one, above my head. I realized that I can relax now; the creature was dead. My sword’s blade retracted, obedient to the mechanism; I stuck it back to my belt and looked at Loki, standing nearby. He didn’t look too good; his beautiful face was bruised and marked with drops of sweat, yet he smiled to me with a visible effort.

“That wasn’t bad at all…”- he said quietly.

He wanted to add something else, but didn’t manage to; instead his knees suddenly gave up and he fell down on the ground, with a grin of pain on his face. Only now – to my terror - I realized that he wasn’t exhausted because of the fight, but he actually got badly hurt during it… I run towards him and fell on my knees right beside him, instinctively holding up his head while he was struggling to stay up, leaning on his right arm.

“No, no, no, Loki….” – I whispered in panic, when I saw this bad, open and bleeding wound on his left side – Oh my God…”

He looked up at me with a mixture of pain and a trace of usual playfulness in his eyes.

“I thought we were already on a first name basis…” – he said coughing with an effort.

“Oh, shut up!” – my eyes filled with tears and I was struggling to not to let them out – “I got to get you out of here, now! Please, hang on…”

I looked around, but fortunately there was no one else coming our way; at least not yet. I looked back at Loki; it physically hurt me to see him like this, broken and suffering…. Still holding his head, with a gentle gesture I brushed his long hair off his face. He must have seen the fear and pain in my eyes, because he faintly smiled and squeezed my arm reassuringly.

“I will be fine soon, my dear” – he said quietly, looking straight into my eyes – “I just need to rest for a while…”

There was so much warmth, tenderness and devotion in his gaze, that I couldn’t get my eyes off him… His grip on my arm tightened slightly, as if he intended to pull me closer. But he didn’t. I was almost disappointed, but we really had to go.

“Help me up please…” – he asked, trying to get up.

I immediately offered him my shoulder which he leaned on and slowly managed to stand up; holding each other tight for maximum support, we slowly started towards nearby dark, small corridor which I meant to use for a temporary hideout until I can figure out a better place to rest in. Loki was visibly weak and his steps were noticeably insecure; I knew he was in pain, but the same time I enjoyed his firm grip around my shoulders and the fact that I could shamelessly hold him back and feel his strong body close to me…. It could be just my imagination, but it seemed to me that his grasp was a little stronger than necessary, as if that was something more than pure support for him too…

“How can you be fine with such a wound?” – I asked looking up at him – “It looks really awful…”

“We have a… how do I say it… good healing abilities…” – he said gazing back at me while trying to hide a grin of pain – “All I need is a place to rest and I should be much better in maybe two hours...”

“Healing abilities…” - I repeated in astonishment – “Are you telling me Asgardians are indestructible…? And wait… you were around when the ancient Vikings roamed the seas… don’t tell me you are immortal too??”

He laughed quickly, but the pain made him stop.

“I wish that was so….” – he said – “No, we just heal fast, much faster than humans…and we are not immortal, all we have is about 5000 years…”

My face expression must have been weird, because he added quickly:

“No, we’re not that different, don’t you think we are monsters or something…”

“No, I don’t think you are…” - I said – “I just wonder how else you are going to surprise me….”

“There isn’t much left” – he replied, smiling again despite of pain – “And I would very much like to tell you everything you want to know, if you are interested…” – he added seriously for a change.

I withstood his penetrating gaze and nodded in agreement.

“Looks like we are about to have some time to kill anyway…” – I said finally.

A hint of smile appeared on his pale face when his grasp tightened around my shoulders for a second or two. I liked this answer…

In a meantime we reached the small hall I had in mind; right on time I’d say, because Loki definitely needed at least a short break.  I helped him down and made sure he’s comfortable as much as it was possible on this rocky ground; I was very aware of the fact that he’s watching my every move, being a little uncomfortable with all this attention which he probably wasn’t used to, but also grateful for it.

“Ok stay here, I’ll see where we can hide.” – I said reaching for my equipment.

“Hayne…”

“Yes?” - I looked back at him.

He sighed with an effort.

“Listen, you have a crystal now and it has to be brought back to your team as soon as possible. You should go. Now.

I shall stay here until I’m stronger and join you then. That is, if you want me to…” – he added with a question in his gaze.

“That is out of question!” – I said firmly and without hesitation.

“I don’t want to hold you back…”

“Listen” – I crouched back, lowered my voice and looked straight into his eyes – “I don’t care how fast you heal and how strong you are; this wound need attention. That’s one. Second, we are both staying here for as long as necessary for you to get better. I’m not leaving you and that’s final.”

He looked at me for a long while without a word.

“Thank you…” – he said finally.

I nodded and got back up again. I reached into my pocket and fished out a device that looked a little like a smartphone but that was the end of all similarities; it was way more than that. Like a vast majority of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s equipment, this one too was designed and manufactured by Stark Industries, which meant there was nothing ordinary about it. Now I intended to use it to scan around the labyrinth we’ve gotten ourselves into. I opened one of the applications and the device instantly emitted a kind of a three-dimensional, translucent web of light that immediately spread out through the whole terrain, sending back to the device a detailed map of the whole area. The map on my screen was continuously expanding as the web kept scanning deeper and deeper into the complex; finally, it stopped and then I knew I have the whole thing scanned in. With such detailed information at hand, it only took me a few moments to figure out the route; I could clearly see the best possible exit way and right next to it I found a small cave, perfect for us to hide. It had a narrow entrance that could be easily camouflaged and a small opening leading outside that could be our way out of this base. Perfect. I set the navigation to this point; now we will be led to it step by step, without a danger of getting lost again. I turned to Loki; he was sitting there and resting, but also watching me curiously.

“Good news” – I smiled – “I found a perfect place to stay and a way out. And it’s not far.”

“It’s certainly good to have you around…” – his eyes sparkled joyfully when he started to try getting up; without much success though.

“Whoa, whoa, wait…” - I got to him in a few steps – “You’re not ok yet…”

I helped him up and held him just as before; he leaned again on my shoulders.

“I have to admit, I like it much better this way…” – he said, holding me closer.

I smiled to myself; well, it looked like he really was getting better…

It was getting darker and darker around with every step; during this whole chaos we ended up in a secluded, almost forgotten part of the base. It wasn’t even finished properly yet; in comparison to the center of the complex, these parts were dirty, full of lose rocks and dust; in fact, all that looked like it could just collapse at any given moment. It wasn’t very reassuring, but on the other hand the deeper into these forgotten parts we could get, the better chance for a successful hideout. Anyway, there wasn’t much light here and at some point, it actually became dangerous to proceed. Fortunately, there was a solution to that. I put away the navigation device into the jacket’s pocket for a while, reached into one of the slots in my utility belt and fished out a small and narrow cylindrical object. At the touch of a finger two flare blades were released for both ends of the cylinder, turning it into a very efficient flashlight.

“There” – I handed it to Loki – “This switch on the side controls the brightness, I have to hold onto the navigation.”

He took it from me and we carried on, towards the hideout cave. According to the navigation we were very close; still nobody interrupted us, even though we could hear some noises and voices of mercenaries looking for us, no one has found us so far.

Just a few short minutes later I finally saw the cave we were heading to; my navigation device has clearly shown that it’s right in front of us and I actually was now looking at the entrance. Just like I suspected, it was a narrow passageway that could be easily camouflaged, hence giving us safe refuge for the time being. I turned the device off and put it away. The entrance was a little rocky but still accessible; after removing a few small stones we were able to finally get it. The cave was actually even a little bigger than I initially thought, judging by the reading. It was filthy, rocky and dark, but for our needs it was just right. I noticed the small opening on the other side of the cave, big enough to slip through; now it was allowing a faint moonlight into the cave, thinning the darkness.

“Looks like we’re good…” – I whispered, listening to faint noises we left behind.

“We lost them…” – Loki smiled with content – “Now, one more thing. Help me please…”

He turned back to the entrance we came through, reached out towards it and did some complicated gestures with his long, slim fingers. Something in a form of a very thin, slightly sparkling fog materialized in his hand; slowly flew towards the entrance and stayed there like glittering cloud, blocking the opening. I still couldn’t get used to Loki’s magic; well, to magic in general – fascinated, I reached out to touch the mist, but Loki quickly stopped my hand.

“Don’t do it” – he said quietly – “This is just an illusion and it will not hold against a touch…”

“Ok…” – I nodded, still looking in disbelief at this phenomenon. In a meantime, he turned towards the exit slit and did exact same thing with that too.

“It’s a simple illusion” – he said looking down at me – “But it won’t let anyone outside neither see any light nor hear any noise from inside here. We are safe here…”

“Good” – I said – “Now let’s take care of you…”

I helped him walk towards the wall; he sat down with an effort and rested his back against the cold rock with a visible relief. He might have started to heal a little but obviously, he was still in pain… I kneeled next to him and affixed the blazing torch in a convenient spot to get as much light as I needed and quickly took off the jacket, gloves and weapon gear so nothing would stand in my way while performing a delicate task I was about to. He was observing me with his left eyebrow raised, which I saw only when I finally looked at him.

“Take this off” – I pointed at his upper armor while fishing out medical kit off my utility belt – “I need to get to the wound…”

“I’m not saying I don’t like the idea, but shouldn’t I take you out or something first?” – again this playful spark in his intense gaze and a deep, low voice…

I gathered all my strength to stay calm.

“Just… do it please” – I averted my gaze and concentrated on preparing the med-kit – “I’m trying to focus…”

“As you wish…” - he said in the same tone – “May I just say that I find it very interesting that it actually throws you out of focus…”

I looked back at him harshly and without a word.

“Alright, alright…” - he raised his hands in a surrendering gesture – “I’m not saying another word…”

He started opening all buckles and snaps on his armor, still smiling to himself. He looked so charming while pretending to be innocent, that I couldn’t stay serious for long.

“You are impossible, have anybody ever told you that?” – I said, allowing myself a little smile.

“Oh yes…” - he said with a lovely smirk and a spark in the eye – “All the time…”

I sighed in resignation.

“No wonder…” - I shook my head and wend back to prepping the med-kit. When I got it ready, Loki still wasn’t so I took this time to make a contact with Phil. Actually, I should have done it as soon as we got into the cave and I found it very interesting that I actually thought about Loki’s comfort first…  Nevertheless, contact had to be made urgently; it’s already been way longer than anticipated. I turned the earpiece on.

“Special Agent Hayne Davenport requesting encrypted connection with Special Agent Coulson” – I said to the mike.

Loki looked at me, still striving with his complicated armor. I raised my hand reassuringly.

“Hayne!” – I heard Phil’s voice in the headphone at the same time – “Are you alright?? It’s been hours…”

“Phil… PHIL!” – I finally managed to stop the avalanche of words from the other side – “Everything is ok, mission accomplished; I have the crystal. We had some minor problems afterwards hence the delay but we’re safe for now…”

“Is everything ok? Is he with you? Are you really _A-OK_?”

A-OK was our secret danger code word that we cooked up a long time ago; simple enough to slip through and therefore most useful. If one of us ever used this phrase, it meant trouble. Phil was now giving me a chance to use the code safely in case I needed it.

“Phil, _I’m fine”_ \- I purposely accentuated this phrase – “Everything is ok, except that Loki is wounded and we need to stay low for a couple of hours until he can move again.”

“A couple of hours…?” – Phil’s voice finally calmed – “Couple of hours to heal the wound…?”

“I’ll explain later. Let Fury know that we are coming soon; it’s time to brief the others, we don’t want any surprises, misunderstandings or any shooting for that matter when we get there, alright?”

There was a short pause before Phil answered. I could tell he didn’t fully approve the course of action I chose.

“Ok” – he said finally – “I’ll talk to Fury, everything will be ready when you arrive. You _are_ sure you know what you’re doing, right?”

“Yes Phil, I am” – I answered calmly – “Please, get everything ready and I’ll contact you when we are ready to leave, alright?”

“You got it.” – he said.

“Thanks. What’s with Thor and Bruce, are they back?”

“Thor is back, but there’s still no sign of Dr. Banner…” – I heard a trace of concern in Phil’s voice.

“I hope he’s ok…” – I was worried about Bruce too. I’ve just met him, but I really liked this quiet, humble guy trapped with his horrible condition, or rather a curse…

“Ok. Over and out.” – I terminated the connection and looked back at Loki.

“Thor is back and he’s ok.” – I said to him. A smile of big relief appeared on his face.

“He is a tough one” – he said – “I knew he would get out of this one…”

I noticed he has finally managed to loosen up his armor; the metal chest piece was already put away, he was opening the rest of leather made suit revealing naked torso underneath and I was finally able to see the wound. It didn’t look too good; I was really hoping that Loki did not overestimate his healing abilities… I leaned over to examine it closer; I was also _very_ aware of this gorgeously sculpted, lean body I was now touching… I forced these thoughts away and focused on the wound. It looked weird, something between cut and burn… It took me a few moments to realize that what I thought was burning marks were actually early signs of the wound closing. Loki didn’t overrate his abilities at all; 30 minutes after he got injured, the wound has actually already started to close itself….

“This is amazing...” – I said in astonishment.

“Well, thank you dear…” – Loki’s voice brought me back to reality. He was gazing at me with this little smile; his eyes were shining with the reflection of a flare, but there was definitely something more in his glance…

“I still need to clean it up” – I said purposely omitting his last words – “It may sting a little…”

I took the small sponge pre-moisten with an antiseptic solution and started to gently clean up the wound.

“I’ll be brave, my lady” – again this low voice with a trace of smile in it.

I stopped what I was doing for a while and looked up at him. I already had enough glimpses of a real Loki to know that these flirty words and playful behavior were just a cover up. Apparently, that was his defense mechanism to shield himself from the outside world, to protect vulnerable and sensitive soul; it’s always difficult to be different and Asgard evidently wasn’t an exception…  I needed that real Loki to resurface once and for all…

“Are you having fun?” – I asked calmly – “Is everything a joke to you…?”

He immediately dropped the act and looked me straight in the eyes; seriously but tenderly and caringly.

“No” – he answered quietly – “Important things are not…”

I withstood this intense gaze; I could look into his eyes forever; each time I did, time seemed to stop…

“Good…” – I said finally and was about to go back to work, but Loki unexpectedly and very gently squeezed my arm. I looked back at him, surprised.

“I’m sorry…” - he said seriously – “From now on no more tricks, no more acts; just me…”

His hand was still resting on my arm; warmth of this touch was so intoxicating…

“It’s a deal…” – I nodded with a little smile and went back to cleaning his wound. He took his hand away to not to interrupt me.

I disinfected the wound and now reached for nano-plasma applicator; it was one of the latest inventions of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Science & Research Division, which – as I have recently learned - basically meant Fitz and Simmons. In a nutshell, what it did was to apply a layer of plasma that consisted of billions of nanobots which were programmed to seal the wound and induce organism’s natural healing process. After that, they would deactivate themselves and basically die off.

“That” – I said – “Will sting more…”

I gently put my hand on his flat stomach close to the wound, to help it close manually. A shiver that went through his body might have been caused by discomfort, but somehow, I figured it wasn’t just that… Trying to forget what this touch is doing to _me_ , I focused on the applicator.

“So…” – it looked like Loki needed a distraction too – “This colleague of yours, Phil… He seems to care a lot about you…?

That was a simple question, no act and no games, just as he promised, but somehow, I could sense a bit of a tension in his voice…

“Yeah” – I said still working with an applicator – “He does. And I care about him too...”

“Is that so…” – was there a trace of confusion, sadness in his voice?

I stopped working and glanced up at him; he looked unsure and somewhat disappointed. Warm smile appeared on my lips all by itself. I sighed, went back to work and started the story.

“I’ve met Phil a few years back, when I was still working for FBI. Police Special Forces…” – I added as an explanation. With a corner of my eye I saw that Loki was listening to me very carefully and a little suspiciously.

“Actually, he was the one who recruited me to S.H.I.E.L.D.” – I continued – “I wasn’t very fond of a change at that time so he had quite a hard time convincing me, but looking at it from the perspective, it was best decision of my life… Anyway, he got me in and we became best friends ever since…”

“Friends…” – he repeated masking the relief.

I glanced at him quickly from under my eyebrow; his reaction was priceless to me…

“Yes. I trust him with my life… I don’t have many friends; in fact, I only have two… well three, but I have good ones…”

“And who else might that be?” – he was curious. I had no problem with disclosing that.

“Tony” – I said – “Tony and Pepper. Pepper is his fiancée” – I added in explanation.

“Tony…?” – he obviously didn’t know who I meant.

“Iron Man” - I clarified.

“Iron Man…” - his confused expression clearly showed that he didn’t expect that – “You are friends with Iron Man…” – he made sure.

This time I laughed quietly.

“Yes” – I said.

Loki nodded with a funny grin.

“That’s impressive…” - he said casually, but then immediately got serious.

 “It’s good to have friends…” - he said with a trace of sadness in his voice.

“How about you?” – I stopped working, letting the plasma sink in and raised my head – “Do you have friends back there? In Asgard?”

He smiled to his thoughts, remembering – as I figured – older and better times.

“There were always five of us” – he started still smiling; his eyes were affixed somewhere far away as if he was looking into the happier past – “Fandral, Volstagg, Siff, Thor and me. All these adventures we had, realms we visited… You have no idea… But my brother was always my best friend. At least until recently….” – he suddenly saddened and a dark cloud of sorrow covered his face.

“And he still is…” - I reassured him – “He never gave up on you. I spoke to him. I know that.”

“I hope you are right…” – he stopped looking into the past and turned his sparkling eyes on me again.

He was so appealing and attractive to me on so many levels. Besides his insanely handsome physical appearance, there was this duality of his character; a playful trickster and a wounded soul beneath; this skilled and vicious warrior I’ve seen not so long ago in a battle and a gentle, tender and vulnerable man at the same time… I was attracted to him since the very first time we’ve met, I couldn’t deny that, but the more I was getting to know him during our encounters since then, the more I was falling for this otherworldly stranger, who wasn’t actually that strange at all… I forced myself to concentrate on the wound again. Nano-plasma seemed to work; injured area started to look much better as nanobots continued working on sealing the wound. All that was left now was to bandage it and let it take its time to heal. I fished out a tightly rolled piece of gauze, opened it and affixed it onto the wound.

“There” – I said – “All done here.”

“It feels much better” – he admitted, touching it gently.

“I told you…” – I smiled – “Now let’s take care of these…”

I took out a fresh antiseptic sponge, moved closer to him the way that I was leaning over him a little and started to delicately clean bruises on his face. He looked up at me a little embarrassed at first, but then his eyes smiled at me as he gratefully accepted my care. Being so close to him was so blissful and felt so good and right, that I purposely took my time with each cut, enjoying this closeness for as long as I could. It was almost intimate and I knew he felt that too; the way he looked at me when our faces were just inches away of each other, was driving me mad…

“This feels good” – he said quietly, closing his eyes in content – “It’s been quite a long time since someone took care of me like that…”

“Yeah…” - I said – “I figured that much. I’m sorry…”

He looked up at me again with this incredible light in his eyes.

“I could get used to that…” – he whispered.

“And I would rather not see you hurt ever again…” – I whispered back and I really meant it. I remembered how my heart has nearly stopped back then, when I realized he got wounded…

“It’s worth it, but I will do my best…” – he smiled.

I gently brushed over a strand of his long black hair to get to the last cut.

“I got your word…” – I said applying a finishing touch to the bruise on his forehead – “There, all done.”

“Thank you” – again that little smile…

“You are welcome…” – I smiled too.

I gathered all used items, tossed them away, sat down with a relief next to Loki, resting my back and head against the cold wall, just like he did and closed my eyes for a moment. We sat there in silence, resting. All I could hear was faint sound of water drops tapping against the rock and Loki’s deep, steady breath. I finally opened my eyes only to see him looking at me calmly but intensively; the radiance in his eyes was almost incapacitating.

“So, you are taking me with you?” – he said.

“Yes I am. That will be fun…” - I laughed – “Oh, it’s gonna be ok, don’t worry.” – I added quickly when I saw his confused expression.

“I believe I’m in good hands…” – he replied with humorous seriousness and I nodded the same way in reply.

“Why do I sense that this decision was left for you to make?” – he asked a moment later.

“It was” – I confirmed – “And I know I’m making a right one…”

Loki stared at me for a short while with a gaze that could melt a rock. It definitely made my heart melt…

“Thank you…” – he said finally.

“Don’t thank me” – I couldn’t help but smile to him – “You made it happen, nobody else…”

“Maybe… But you have managed to see what most others don’t” – his voice was calm, deep and soothing – “You took an effort to give me a chance, a benefit of the doubt. And that’s what I’m grateful for…”

He was looking at me like at the most precious and fragile treasure; I blissfully sunk into this gaze and it took me a moment before I actually could answer.

“In that case” – I said at last – “I’m glad I did…”

All these emotions and feelings that were building up between us practically ever since the very first moment we’ve met, were slowly and finally surfacing now; there was no point in denying how we felt about each other anymore.

I could see it in his eyes and he saw it in mine…

I forced myself to look away; having him here, so close to me, was seriously throwing me off balance. That undone armor revealing glimpses of half-naked body wasn’t helping either… All I could think about was how desperately I wanted to bury myself in Loki’s arms, hold him tight and never let go. What I saw in his eyes, was exactly the same desire; we were drawn to each other stronger and stronger by the minute, but for some reason none of us acted on it just yet. This connection was so new and sudden, yet so precious and so fragile and that was probably what was making us wait. Wait for a right moment or simply until none of us could resist it anymore…

Forcing myself to think about something else, I looked at the glittering cloud enveloping the entrance to our cave.

“Is everyone in Asgard capable of doing such wonderful things?” – I asked, still astonished by this phenomenon.

“Not everyone” – Loki seemed to fight his emotions too; his voice was a little unsteady, yet low and vibrant – “Some, yes. When I was still a child, my mother Frigga thought me how to create illusions, how to play with particles and make them do what I want; how to conjure the Flames of Surtr.”

“Flames of Surtr?” – I repeated – “Are these the rays that you’ve used before?”

Loki nodded.

“They are called like that after a mythical being, a god called Surtr who was said to carry a flaming sword…”

I shook my head in disbelief.

“Wait, you Asgardians are practically gods yourselves and you still have divine beings above you?”

Loki laughed quietly.

“We were proclaimed gods by your Vikings long time ago yes, but it doesn’t mean we are ones. Well…” - he hesitated for a second – “We _are_ somewhat superior to humans; that is true, but don’t get me wrong please… It’s just, ahmm… we are a different race… but not all _that_ different…” - he stopped and raised his hands in confusion.

“It didn’t come out good….”- he closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.

I watched his struggle with amusement; it was so charming how he tried to watch his words and obviously not to scare me off…

He took a deep breath, sighed and started all over again.

“All I wanted to say, is that we are just stronger than you are and older as a race… that’s all… not that different apart from that…” – he concluded and gazed at me suspiciously.

“And you can do magic…” – I added smiling.

“Yes… and that too…”

I looked back at him and we suddenly burst out laughing.

“Yeah, it’s not that different at all…” – I said still smiling.

“Good…” – he was even more appealing now, when his features were lightened with real and sincere laugh… - “Now watch this…”

He raised his hand and started a sequence of very complicated gestures; his slim fingers moved quickly and soon I saw something very faint starting to form above his hand. It grew and became more solid with every second; a few moments later I saw fully formed, beautiful red rose levitating over a palm of his hand. It looked so very real, I could almost smell the sweet fragrance; it had small water-drops trembling on its petals and leaves and was casting a very faint, delicate glow.

“This was the very first illusion my mother taught me…” – Loki was looking at the rose, but somehow also through it; a faint smile appeared on his lips as if he was remembering old, better and simpler times…

It wasn’t too difficult to guess what he was thinking about now.

“Remember how proud you are making her now…” – I said quietly.

He slowly turned his gaze off the rose and looked at me with his eyebrow raised.

“You truly _are_ extraordinary…” – he said at last with a trace of admiration in his voice.

“I’m just stating the obvious…” – I replied concentrating my attention on a flower. It was hard to believe it wasn’t real; down to smallest detail it looked exactly like a real rose… I stretched out my hand in attempt to touch the flower, but as soon as I did, it blurred and disappeared immediately; leaving traces of sparkling mist that have also disappeared in a few seconds.

“Illusions cannot hold against the touch…” - said Loki – “They are beautiful and useful, but very fragile…”

“This is amazing, what you can do…” – I said looking back at him again.

I noticed that his bruises have already started to heal and faint, but that has actually reminded me of our first encounter when he was so worn up, exhausted and sick looking… I had to know…

“What happened to you before you came here?” – I asked quietly.

His eyes saddened when he looked away.

“I’m sorry” – I said quickly – “You don’t have to...”

“No” – he raised his hand – “No, I want you to know. Besides it has a lot to do with what is happening here and what still may come…”

I nodded and leaned my side against the wall in a more comfortable position that also allowed me to look at him when he talked. He also sat more comfortably and started his tale.

“When I fell off the Bifrost… when I let go of Thor’s Hammer, I thought I was falling towards my death and I welcomed it with gratitude at that time, but that didn’t happen. Instead I landed somewhere in between the Realms, in a void that we even had no idea existed. There turned out to be a whole another world in that chasm, a world inhabited by the worst scum and villainy all nine Realms have ever seen. Fugitives, outcasts, you name it…”

In unimaginable horror, I listened to what he was through during his exile; it seemed like nothing was spared to him. He told me all about all these horrifying places and filthy dens he had to spend nights in; deadly swamps and fiery fields filled with burning lava that he had to cross; unthinkable monsters, creatures and alien races he had to either fight or go along with to survive. Alone against the deadly world, with only his intelligence and trickery skills as his ally, no wonder that this man’s soul hardened like a rock; no wonder he locked himself into an impenetrable shell of irony and fake lightheartedness; and it was a true miracle that he has actually opened up to me like that, enough to let me into his world of nightmares and pain…

“I have finally encountered a race older than space, older than time” – he continued – “The race that became a legend, the race that no one in the whole Nine Realms believed ever existed. The Others. For eons they were hiding in a world between worlds, waiting for a chance to make themselves known again; a chance to conquer all the Realms and rule them in a reign of terror and death… It was never clear to me why they saw me as their chance to resurface, but they have captured me, kept me in a dungeon and they were doing everything to make me cooperate…”

My eyes opened wide when I comprehended this figure of speech.

“You were tortured…” – I whispered in horror. A single tear, then another rolled down my cheek, when I realized what that must have been… With the eyes of imagination, I saw him chained to the rock; broken, miserable and in an unspeakable pain…

“With fire and ice…” - Loki kept talking, with his gaze fixed somewhere far away in space and time – “I tried to resist as long as I could, but then I realized something. That actually was my way out of the void and also my chance for… I don’t know… redemption? For what I’ve done, for what I have become? A monster… I deserved all this pain and suffering but I also wanted to go back. More than anything… So, I have finally agreed to become their ally. Frost Giants were always The Others’ followers, so they were sent with me. Ironic…” - he chuckled without joy – “We came here using the power of a Tesseract and the rest you know…”

He finished his story, but still kept looking somewhere into the darkness, through the rock and filth of our cave; obviously reliving all these terrifying moments over and over again. Overflowed with all these mixed feelings of terror, compassion and an overwhelming need to comfort him at any cost, I hesitantly reached out and rested my hand on his shoulder.

“You did not deserve any of this…” – I whispered – “Nobody does…”

He immediately snapped out of his thoughts and turned to me. His expression softened as soon as he noticed my tears; without hesitation he moved closer to me and very gently, as if he was touching fragile porcelain, he wiped my tears off. He didn’t take his hand away; he delicately caressed my face and I tilted my head towards this hand and closed my eyes, absorbing his touch…

“Nobody has cried over me for a long time…” - he whispered with a trembling voice – “Hush… don’t, my dear… Don’t…”

I opened my eyes and looked at this beautiful and precious face leaned over me; my hand resting on his shoulder moved all by itself, gently stroked his hair and cheek and ended up on his chest. I have finally arrived at the point of no return; I couldn’t hold all these feelings back anymore…

“Listen to me…” - I said quietly, looking straight into his eyes – “You are not a monster… you are not a Frost Giant. You may have been born in Jotunheim, but you _are_ of Asgard. You may have lost your way in the past, but you’ve found it back again. There’s more of good, tenderness and compassion in you than you even realize and are ready to admit... You have a good heart and a beautiful soul; don’t you ever let anyone tell you any different…”

His face was now expressing a thousand feelings at once; it took him a moment to fight the tears appearing in his eyes… He grabbed my hand, kissed it affectionately and kept it pressed against his lips for a while with his eyes closed. Finally, he looked at me again and I saw nothing but love and devotion in his gaze…

“My dearest, precious Hayne…” - he said still holding my hand; his voice was hoarse and unsteady – “If there really is any good left in me, you are the only one who can bring it out… If all that happened to me so far was meant as a mere path leading me to you, then I will bless it till the end of my days… When I came here, I knew what I needed to do, but I realized I might be in need of some help. I was hoping for someone to aid me, a possible ally, but I have found so much more instead… I have found you; an incredible, courageous and extraordinary woman who made me believe again…” - he paused for a second, trying to steady his voice – “You stole my heart Hayne, but _I don’t_ want it back… It’s yours, if you want it…”

These gorgeous eyes looking straight into mine with uncertainty, hope and endless devotion… I buried my hand into his hair and gently pulled his head closer.

“It’s safe with me…” – I whispered, drowning in his gaze; finally, and completely lost in his charm and in the heat of the moment, I couldn’t think of anything else but him and what his words, his closeness and his touch are doing to me…

A beautiful smile appeared on his face when he wrapped his arms around me, leaned over and with an adorable hint of hesitation, finally kissed me. His lips were warm and soft, and a kiss itself gentle, almost shy at first. I completely lost sense of time and reality; there was no alien threat, no crystals, no Tesseracts and no dirty cave – only Loki and me finally in each other’s arms; the rest of the world simply ceased to exist… Getting more and more aroused with each passing second, we held each other tighter; I wrapped my arms around his neck and he held me closer and stronger against his chest. I felt his tongue in my mouth, his hot breath on my face and his hands caressing my body; all that has unleashed powerful, almost impossible to control urges; I pressed myself even closer and tighter to him, I felt his frantic heartbeat and heavy, rapid breath while he was also struggling to not to let the desire take over completely. If only it was some other time and some other place… but that had to wait. We were both so desperate for each other’s touch that it was hard to let go. Finally, after I don’t know how long, our lips separated but we stayed snuggled in each other’s arms as close as it was only possible. I buried my face in his neck; with his hand firmly holding my head and his face leaned towards mine, he held me in a tight grasp as if he never wanted to let go…

“Do you have any idea how much I craved this…” - he whispered straight into my ear, his voice was trembling with emotions – “Craved you? The feel of you, the taste of you…?

I looked up at him, still dizzy from the sudden adrenaline rush. Stuck in his arms, I felt small and vulnerable and I loved this feeling. I was a soldier, an Agent and I had to be and was tough; it was wonderful to feel just like a woman again for a change and he was the only man that could make me feel that way; fragile but most important in the world…

“Oh, I do…” - I whispered back, tenderly caressing his face – “All this time, I didn’t know whether I could trust you, whether I was or was not being deceived; I didn’t know whether I could allow myself to…” - I paused for a moment, remembering the past.

“I have made this mistake before; it cost me a broken heart and almost my career…” - I continued after a while – “I was so afraid to make another one…”

He leaned down again and sealed my lips with a passionate kiss.

“I saw it in your eyes every time I looked at you and it was driving me mad…” - he said – “I can promise you one thing my sweet; you entrusted me with your heart and I will ensure it will never be broken again…”

I looked into these gorgeous, sincere blue eyes and my heart again filled up with this cozy, blissful feeling; feeling of complete and unquestionable trust and love… My lips found his and we united in a long kiss again; this time it was not about passion or desire but about expressing these strong feelings we had for each other; soft and tender yet intoxicating and breathtaking… When I looked at him again and saw his beautiful, sparkling eyes smiling at me, I knew that this was what I was waiting for my whole life. Everything I ever did, every decision I’ve ever made, was leading me right here; to S.H.I.E.L.D. and to Loki… I touched his forehead and it suddenly hit me that it was clean; bruises were gone…

“Your cuts…” - I said in astonishment – “They’ve healed…!”

I loosen my grip on him and reached under his undone armor to check the wound. I allowed my hand to casually slide through his torso before I got to the bandage; feeling of his naked skin under my fingertips accompanied with a sigh that escaped his lips, was wonderful. I gently removed the gauze only to see perfectly even skin without a trace of wound or even a scar… I touched his side to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me; all I could feel was a smooth skin… I couldn’t bring myself to take my hand away; not yet. Being able to touch his half naked body wasn’t something I wanted to let go on too soon… Loki’s breath became faster and heavier, as he leaned towards me and rested his forehead on mine.

“This… is not helping…” – he whispered running his fingers through my hair.

“Believe me, it works both ways…” – I answered quietly, letting him cover my face and neck with passionate kisses. I don’t think I have ever wanted someone as much and as desperately as I wanted him now; I have also never been with a man who would desire me that much, yet be so gentle at the same time and so in control… This control could break at any moment though and if it did, I knew I would just let him take me right there; I wouldn’t be able to resist… But it was not a time or place for that. First of all, we had to get back to the base as soon as possible; secondly and at this point actually more importantly, our first time couldn’t happen in a filthy cave like this. These feelings that have bonded us were way too strong, serious and too beautiful and precious to let the final act happen in a place like this… I knew Loki felt that way too, because he reluctantly backed away. We sat there for a moment just holding each other and trying to steady our breaths and heartbeats.

“We should go…” – he finally whispered with his face buried into my hair.

“Yes…” - I nodded – “Let’s get this war out of the way as soon as possible…”

Reluctantly, we let go of each other and started to quickly get ourselves together. Time was really of an essence now; Loki’s injury slowed us down and the attack could start at any moment. I was hoping that nothing will happen till the morning though; I hoped darkness will not be considered an ally by the enemy forces. Putting my gear and a jacket back on, I was listening to the silence around us, trying to pick up any noise that would indicate that we were still being pursued.

I heard nothing, which was a good sign. Our hide out, reinforced with Loki’s illusions turned out to be a very good one; mercenaries must have concluded that we managed to escape and weren’t looking for us inside the complex anymore.

I walked towards the slightly moonlit exit and looked through it; nothing except dark forest was visible outside. I took out my communicator, punched in a bike activation code and set it remotely to come to this exact point to pick us up. Once the device confirmed that bike was on its way, I turned back to Loki; he was already fully dressed and he walked towards me with this little smile of his, rested his both hands on my shoulders and leaned his head against mine.

“Are you ok with all that?” – I asked wrapping my arms around his waist – “Coming with me to S.H.I.E.L.D…? To face everyone there?

He chuckled and kissed my forehead.

“It is a right thing to do” – he said seriously – “And with you by my side I’m ready for anything…”

I tighten my grip on him and snuggled my face to his.

“ _That_ works both ways too…” – I whispered.

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and held me close and tight for a few seconds without a word. No words were necessary anyway… That seemed to be one of the last - if not the last - quiet moment that we could steal for ourselves before the whole hell would break loose; a quiet moment when we could simply hold on to each other and enjoy being close…. Communicator on my belt biped twice.

“My bike is here” – I sighed; my face was still snuggled into Loki’s neck and my voice was muffled – “We need to go…”

 He nodded and reluctantly loosened his grip. Right before we let go, he kissed me once again, quickly and hungrily. I returned that kiss with equal passion and we finally managed to let go of each other. Time was really up; now that Loki was already able to travel, we had to get back to the base as soon as possible and deliver the precious stone. Without further ado, I grabbed and put on my gloves on the way to the exit and slid through the narrow crack in the rock. Fresh gust of wind gently blew against my face when I looked into the night. My bike wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but I didn’t expect to actually see it. With the cloaking mode on, it was invisible to naked eye; only thermo-vision equipment could detect it, but only a very sensitive one. I tapped an app on my communicator and the stealth appearance of the bike started to fade. Soon, it was fully visible, floating silently low above the ground and ready to take off. I remotely opened top covers and quickly hopped in; a second later, Loki appeared in the crack and also jumped inside on the seat behind me. As soon as he did, I closed top covers and engaged the cloaking mode back again. I took out the package with the stone out of my pocket, placed it in the compartment in the dash and zipped up my tightly fitted jacket.

“Are you ok back there?” – I asked Loki – “Well, you always wanted a ride, enjoy!” – I smiled, turning on the instruments.

“Oh, I will…” – came the answer from behind me and I heard a smile in his velvet voice when he wrapped his arms around my waist, as it’s usually being done when riding a bike.

I turned back to him and leaned against his chest, letting him bury me in his arms one more time.

“You know that it was not the bike I was so fond of…?” – he smiled and his eyes sparkled.

“So I figured…” – I smiled too.

I reached out, gently pulled his head closer and kissed him once again. He held me tighter for a few more seconds, making the kiss last a little longer. Each time I felt his lips on mine and is hot breath on my face, the time itself seemed to stop; as long as I was in his arms, the whole world could collapse for what I cared… But this time the world actually _could_ collapse if we didn’t hurry. I reluctantly let go of him and he let me go too. He kept his arms around my waist though, while I grabbed the controls.

“Ok, we’re taking off” – I said. I activated my headpiece which covered my head in a matter of seconds; the front deflector turned itself on as soon as the helmet has formed completely and started to display data right in front of my eyes. I hit the gas and the bike jumped into the darkness, finally leaving the filthy aliens’ nest behind.

“Voice command mode, engage” – I said to the communicator. With the helmet on I couldn’t manually operate my earpiece.

“Special agent Phil Coulson, connection via secured line requested” – I said after a few seconds when a faint beep confirmed the mode change – “Special agent Hayne Davenport, security marker signature Alfa-Charlie-Delta-Zulu-0225.”

I heard a few seconds of static and then Phil’s voice filled out my helmet. That thing had a state of the art sound system, I had to admit…

“Hayne! What’s your status? Are you on the move?”

“Affirmative Phil, we are on our way. I need coordinates, where are you?”

“Sending them to your navigation system now. Are you ok?” – again that hint of uncertainty in his voice. Boy, he had a hard time accepting Loki’s involvement in all this….

“Everything is alright Phil, don’t worry. Listen…” - I paused for a second – “Assuming you haven’t already, I think it’s a high time to brief everyone about the situation.”

“I know. It is being taken cared of as we speak. Fury has gathered everyone in a command office and is spilling the news right now. I wish you could see their faces…” – he allowed himself a quick chuckle.

“I wish I could” – I smiled too and look at the controls – “Ok, I got your coordinates, ETA 22 minutes.”

“Good. I’ll meet you in a hangar.”

“See you soon then. Over and out” – I set the navigation system to follow Phil’s coordinates and let the bike cut silently through the night.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, just a little clarification:  
> The series was now renamed into Avengers; Asgard and Midgard United and will consist of separate parts that are connected; just like the movies. The first part previously called The Avengers has a new title: The Tesseract. More parts will follow. The whole series is a one, long story... enjoy ;-)  
> ***********

“Special agent Hayne Davenport requesting landing permission; security marker signature Alfa-Charlie-Delta-Zulu-0225.” – mighty, dark silhouette of the Helicarrier was barely visible in the darkness; it was my instruments that spotted it first, before I could see the faint shape before me.  
“I see you Alfa-Charlie-Delta-Zulu-0225, you may proceed to landing platform; Hangar D, west entrance. Over?” – judging by the voice, operator on duty was pretty tired. No wonder, it was a middle of the night, almost morning. I felt worn out too…  
“Roger that, initiating approach. Over and out.” – I disabled the stealth mode and proceeded directly towards the west Hangar D entrance. Huge door opened to let me in and moment later I landed in a well-lit hangar. To my surprise, except Phil, I saw four heavily armed troops in full combat gear, waiting for us. I deactivated my helmet and quickly turned back to Loki.  
“Don’t worry” – I said – “It’s just a procedure…”  
“I’m not worried” – he said quietly – “I realize how I must be perceived here…”  
I couldn’t disagree with that.  
“Let’s go and get this over with” – I said.  
I grabbed the stone from dash compartment and got off the bike; service workers approached it as soon as Loki got off too and took it to park and secure in the farther area of the hangar.  
“Phil!” – I raised my hand in a greeting, while heading towards him – “What the heck is this?” – I lowered my voice and pointed discretely on soldiers, as I got close to him.  
“Fury’s orders, I’m sorry” – he said and it looked like he really was.  
I turned back again just in time to see one of the troops approaching Loki with ready to use handcuffs.  
“Whoa, hold it there!” – I stopped him with a gesture. He froze immediately, unsure what to do.  
“Is it really necessary?” – I said to Phil, who looked like he’d prefer to be somewhere else right now.  
“He was very specific about this… “- he answered finally.  
I sighed. I didn’t have to like it but as an active agent on duty I fully understood where Fury was coming from…  
“Fine” – I walked over to the soldier and reached out for the handcuffs – “Give them to me…”  
He handed them over to me quickly and clearly relieved, promptly backed out. Loki just stood there, motionless, observing everything with interest and a hint of amusement in his eyes; calm and relaxed, yet his whole posture and appearance indicated how big potential and strength was hidden behind this calmness; everyone in this room - including me – was very aware that Loki could break free and kill everyone around anytime he wanted to, without any major problems; we all knew he really WAS dangerous… Off course nobody else knew him like I did; nobody else knew that this would be the last thing he’d like to do at this moment, so there was no point in arguing on that, especially, that these were Fury’s direct orders.  
I approached Loki and he offered me his wrists; without a word, just with that little smile which appeared on his lips every time he was looking at me. I looked back at him, troubled.  
“I’m sorry, I’ll get you out of these as soon as possible…” – I said quietly, putting handcuffs on him.  
“That’s alright” – he kept smiling, as if nothing has happened – “I didn’t expect anything else…”  
I nodded and sent him a quick smile before I turned around and started walking.  
“Ok, let’s go” – I said.  
Phil led the way with me at his side; Loki was just a step behind us; our small procession was secured from the back by four armed troops. Nobody said a word, until after crossing a few steel halls and taking an elevator to the higher deck we have finally stood in front of the door to Command Office.  
“That will be all” – I said firmly to the troops – “You are relieved now.”  
They stopped immediately, turned around in one smooth motion and marched back where we came from. In a meantime Phil punched in a code into a door lock.  
“Ready?” – he looked at me quickly over his shoulder.  
“Let’s go.” – I nodded. He hit the confirmation button and thick, massive door started to open.  
Before we got in and before Phil or anybody else could notice, I quickly squeezed Loki’s arm in a reassuring gesture; he answered with a wink. The door has finally fully opened and we walked in.  
Everybody was already in; Tony, Steve, Maria Hill, Thor, Hawkeye and off course Fury - except for Bruce, which I noticed with a sting of concern. As we walked in, all six pairs of eyes turned at us, or rather at Loki… Even in this big room, his presence was noticeable and intimidating; tall, dark and dressed in leather and metal from head to toe, he made a striking impression, especially, because most of them didn’t have a chance to see him up close until now. I noticed that he particularly made an impression on agent Maria Hill; she looked at him the way that couldn’t be mistaken for anything else… Well, I couldn’t blame her. Back off agent Hill, this Asgardian is taken! – I thought to myself, grinning in my thoughts. Almost everybody was sitting at the table, except Thor who stood by the nearby wall and Fury leaning over the table. Phil took an empty seat, but I preferred to stay standing, by Loki’s side. I wanted to make him feel better and at the same time send a subtle message as of how he is to be treated from now on. Like one of us. I caught him and Thor exchanging quick glances and I could tell that both of them were glad to see each other. So far so good… Director Fury has finally straightened up, left the table and clutching his hands behind his back in his usual manner, made a few steps toward us; his face motionless and the only good eye fixed on Loki. He finally stood right before us; just as tall as Loki, equally dark and menacing, he gazed straight into Loki’s eyes as if he was able to look into his soul and read his thoughts and intentions… Loki didn’t move a muscle, calmly bearing up this fierce glance. They stood like that for a good few seconds without a word, assessing each other’s strength. Nobody else moved, nor even took a louder breath. After a few more seconds, it was Fury who finally broke the silence.  
“So, I am told that you have become an ally now…” - he said very slowly, carefully weighing each word – “You have been brought here, which means, agent Davenport has decided you can be trusted… “  
Loki swallowed quickly; that was the only sign of his nervousness, aside of that his face was calm and impenetrable.  
“Last time we have met, I told you that in the end you never know who your true ally could be…” - he finally said with a calm and velvety voice – “I trust you see now, who I was talking about…”  
Furry shrugged.  
“Words...” – he said with contempt – “We will see what your actions will show.”  
He started to turn back, but it was time for me to pitch in.  
“Sir…” – I said.  
Fury stopped and looked at me with his eyebrow raised.  
“With all due respect, I request releasing him from these handcuffs. It was my task to assess the situation and yes, my assessment is that Loki does not represent any danger to us. Not anymore. In fact, I couldn’t have accomplished my mission without his help. He shouldn’t be treated as prisoner anymore.”  
Fury’s fierce gaze rested at me for a while; I stood straight with my arms behind my back, trying to look confident. Well, I was – I truly believed in what I was saying, but Fury had this annoying ability to make you feel unsure no matter what.  
Silence was lengthening indefinitely and it felt like the air has suddenly got much thicker.  
“Well, at least someone please make sure that he won’t get his hands on that scepter…” – mumbled Hawkeye curled up on his seat.  
Nobody reacted to that, except – off course – Tony. With his usual nonchalance, he leaned back against his chair and crossed arms on his chest.  
“Oh, unclench, Legolas” – he looked at Clint with boredom – “You were taken by these other weirdoes and as far as I know, he was the one who actually released you…”  
This statement let out in a right moment, supported by Tony’s charisma had finally loosened the tension and cleared up the atmosphere a bit. Fury nodded very slowly and turned his gaze back on Loki, who was standing still silently, with his eyes down. He must have felt Fury’s gaze, because he looked up as soon as Director has turned to him.  
“You will be released from your handcuffs” – Fury was letting words out painfully slowly – “But don’t you think for a minute that I trust you. My trust is damn hard to be earned. Besides, you caused one of my men gone missing and you punched a hole in my ship!”  
“My sincere apologies for that….” – Loki has managed to pitch in, but was silenced immediately by Fury’s angry gesture.  
“You will not talk your way out of this, no matter how much of a smooth-talker you are, trickster god” – Fury rested his fists on his hips – “I don’t trust you and you will be watched. Agent Davenport…” – he addressed me, but didn’t take his eyes off Loki even for a second – “…he is your responsibility; eyes on him at all times. He misbehaves, you’re accountable. Is that understood?”  
“Yes Sir” – I said.  
“Oh, he will behave. I will make sure of that…” – silent up until now, Thor left his spot at the wall and walked towards us – “Will you not, brother of mine?” – he said placing his hand heavily on Loki’s shoulder.  
Loki slightly lost his balance under this powerful pat and let out a faint, innocently unsure smile as he looked at his brother and then at me.  
“Well, it looks like I am in good hands…” – he said quietly, turning to Director Fury.  
Fury nodded.  
“Take them off” – he said pointing at Loki’s handcuffs.  
“Thank you, Sir” – I replied reaching for Loki’s wrists. Handcuffs opened with a silent hiss and his hands were free. Even during this brief contact, I was so aware of his closeness and my mind slipped away for a second or two, towards more pleasant thoughts… God, I was a lost cause…. I snapped out of this blissful feeling; tossed needless now handcuffs on nearby shelf and stood back, next to Loki and Thor.  
“Now” – I felt a relief when Fury has turned his gaze away and looked at the others – “As I was saying, agent Davenport’s mission was to acquire a crystal, that according to our guest here…” – he tossed a quick and unfriendly gaze at Loki who didn’t seem to give a slightest damn about it – “…is supposed to counteract invaders’ powers and eventually close the inter-dimensional portal should we do not manage to stop them from opening it.”  
“A magic crystal??” – an overwhelming amount of doubt and sneer in Maria’s voice was hard to ignore – “With all due respect Sir, but we’re not playing Dungeons and Dragons here… “  
Others started to mumble between each other; a disorder begun to grow. Fury leaned his head down and let them talk for a short while; he looked tired and pissed, but then again, he always looked tired and pissed… Finally, without a warning he slammed his fist down on the table cutting into this uncontrolled chatter.  
“We are not playing games here” – he said – “All this is as real as it can be; this is not just an enchanted stone from a fairy tale and its power is as real as the alien threat above our heads!”  
That has finally shut them up; everybody sat silently, looking at Fury.  
“What is it then?” – there was no trace of previous mockery in Maria’s voice this time – “How can a stone stop the aliens?”  
“They are called Chitauri” – Loki’s low and vibrant voice cut unexpectedly into the silence. Everyone looked at him at once; especially Maria with this annoying (for me) expression of a complete fascination, as it seemed like he is responding directly to her, but he hasn’t even glanced at her and just continued his thought.  
“And there is no magic in it… Well, science and magic are one and the same, depends on a point of view… Anyway, this crystal that we have brought is called The Reality Stone. Scepters…” – he pointed at his spear standing on the other side of the Command Office on a podium – “…they all bear pieces of The Mind Stone in them. That’s how the Giants were able to seize control over you…” – he turned to Hawkeye – “…and your other companion. The Tesseract is actually a Space Stone. There are six of these stones: Space, Soul, Time, Power, Mind and Reality Stones and they are all called The Infinity Gems. Whoever shall possess them all, will become powerful beyond comprehension, yet to unleash the true and ultimate power of Infinity Gems, one needs The Infinity Gauntlet to hold them all. Only possessing all of it will make one truly invincible. The Reality Stone…” – he turned to me and I fished the stone out of my pocket and handed it to him – “…is in a way the most powerful of them all; it brings the reality back by reversing and alleviating the effects of any other Infinity Gem or Object and it’s a long and complicated story, but these objects exist all over the universe and are more of them besides the Infinity Gems. In this case, the Tesseract as Infinity Object will be used to open the inter-dimensional portal for Chitauri to cross to this world and Reality Stone has a power to counteract this. It can and will close the portal…” – he put the Reality Stone carefully on the table and retreated back to where he was, next to Thor and me.  
“But that’s not all…” - he continued after a short pause. He leaned against the wall behind him, crossed arms on his chest and kept talking with this tender, vibrant and captivating tone; he didn’t have to raise his voice – he’s got everybody’s undivided attention and we were listening to him in an absolute silence.  
“The real problem is that neither Frost Giants nor Chitauri could ever have acquired two of Infinity Gems and the Infinity Object on top of that, by themselves. Not even The Others… not without help…” – he sighed and continued – “The Others are an ancient race, they have been around since before the recorded history of any Realm and whenever they reappeared, there was always someone else behind them…”  
He paused again as if what he was about to say was too difficult or rather too terrifying to let out. He was dead serious, just as Thor was and I guessed that the Thunder God knew exactly what was about to be said. Fury dropped his unfriendly act and stared at Loki in anticipation, just as the rest of us.  
“There’s this ancient being that belongs to no race, the last of his kind or the first, nobody knows” – Loki continued quietly – “Legend says, he lives for billions of years, hiding, but hungry for power… Power that only the complete Infinity Gauntlet can give him… Should he succeed in gathering all these items, no one in all nine Realms will be safe. His name is Thanos…”  
There was an absolute silence in the room after Loki finished his story; everyone was looking at him and then at Fury in disbelief and total confusion. I too gazed up at him with an inaudible question in my eyes and he sent me a faint, sad smile. Implications of what Loki has just said were enormous; it looked like the situation was much worse than anybody could even suspect… It looked like what we were experiencing now, was just a mere beginning of something much bigger and much more terrifying…  
There was a one enormous question mark in everybody’s eyes, except for Fury’s. He lowered his head in a gesture of an overwhelming tiredness and then looked up again, affixing his one good eye at Thor.  
“Is this true?” – he asked quietly.  
“I am afraid so” – Thor’s voice was equally quiet – “If my brother claims that he encountered The Others; and I believe he did; then what he says must be true… Midgard and every other Realm are in grave danger…”  
“Ok, time out… Guys, gods, whatever; excuse me but WHAT??” – in his typical offhand way, Tony has spilled out a question that we all wanted to ask.  
Fury looked back at every single one of us separately, before he answered.  
“Well, Avengers” – he said finally – “We have a problem. You are among a very few in the entire world who have heard these legends and now you are the only ones who have heard the actual confirmation of these stories. The Universe has just gotten much bigger and much more hostile than we have ever imagined. Welcome to level 10 security clearance, people…”  
Nobody said a word, digesting this information.  
“We have the Reality Stone; is the Mind Stone placed only in all these spears or is there any of it left somewhere?” – I asked.  
“According to my knowledge once we collect all spears, we will have all the pieces” – answered Loki.  
“Is it possible that the other Infinity Gems are in these vaults we’ve seen? – I turned directly to Loki again.  
“That is highly unlikely. I would have known otherwise.”- he said.  
“Where is The Infinity Gauntlet? – this time Fury pitched in.  
“It is safe in Odin’s Vault in Asgard” – this time the answer came from Thor – “It’s the safest place I can imagine, no army can penetrate it, not unless Asgard itself falls…”  
Fury nodded slowly.  
“First thing is first” – he said – “The Reality Stone has to be mounted into the scepter immediately; I assume that won’t be a problem, Stark?”  
“Give me two hours tops” – Tony got up ready to work.  
“Good” – Fury looked at us again – “You’re dismissed for now, but stand by.”  
Everybody got up; before leaving the room, Hawkeye tossed an unfriendly gaze at Loki who raised his eyebrow in an answer and sent him a breezy and cheerful smile. Somehow it didn’t lighten Hawk up.  
Yeah, it’s gonna take some time…  
With a corner of my eye I saw agent Maria Hill also sneaking a gaze at Loki, probably hoping for a hint of an interest from his side, but all she got in return was disappointment; all that Loki was interested in, was me by his side and although I felt kind of bad for her, I thanked God for this…  
Everyone left except us, Thor and Fury. Director seemed to wait for all of them to empty the room, because as soon as Steve - being the last one - disappeared from our sight, he turned to Loki again and stood right in front of him.  
Fury’s gaze was piercing, evaluating and steady. So was Loki’s.  
“Like I said” – Director’s voice was quiet, but not to be mistaken for weak – “You are to be watched until I decide otherwise. Information you have brought is valuable, but it doesn’t make me trust you. If you as much as step the wrong way, you end up in that cell again and believe me, it has been well reinforced now. Is that understood?”  
“Absolutely” – Loki’s voice was just as calm and quiet, but I could see how difficult it was for him to restrain his temper. Treatment he was receiving here, must have been a huge insult to him, but he swallowed it though and I was proud of him for doing so.  
Director Fury nodded and left without any further comments; the atmosphere became a little more bearable. Loki turned to me with his eyebrow raised in an inaudible “how did I do?” I replied with a quick nod.  
“Well, gentlemen” – I said – “It seems like you have an unfinished conversation to follow up with, so I’ll leave you to it.”  
“Indeed, we do…” – Thor looked at his brother with a frown but with a trace of smile too. Loki opened his mouth as if he was going to object, but he gave up. He must have realized that the time is now, to come clean completely and make amends with his brother.  
“Take your time” – I added and then I addressed Loki – “I’ll be in the lounge at the end of that hall, you will find me there.”  
He nodded with this familiar spark in his eyes, but at the same time with a drolly unhappy face which induced a warm smile on my face.  
“You will be fine…” – I said gazing into these beautiful grayish-blue eyes and I briefly squeezed his arm reassuringly. There was no point in pretending in front of Thor; he wasn’t stupid and he was Loki’s brother. After all, there probably won’t be long until the rest of the team will notice what is going on between me and Loki anyway.  
“Enjoy your rest, Hayne” – Thor bowed his head in a minimal yet respectful gesture.  
“Thank you” – I returned the nod and turned my back on them heading towards the private sector of the ship. I really hoped this conversation would go right; but yet again, I was almost certain that these two were able to work things out.


End file.
